


truth hurts

by sunbee



Category: The Kane Chronicles - Rick Riordan
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alcohol, Cheating, F/M, Family Dinners, Friends to Lovers, Ice Skating, Recreational Drug Use, Slow Burn, hangovers, this sounds very serious i promise its not im just trying to cover my bases!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 25,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25978969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunbee/pseuds/sunbee
Summary: One morning, Sadie does the one thing she makes fun of girls for doing: going through their boyfriend's phones. Turns out, that gnawing feeling Sadie's been feeling in her gut for the past month was right, Anubis has been cheating on her, and for a while. So someone tell her how a little game of revenge has spiraled into staying up until 3am and going to concerts and ice skating and playing video games with the same man Anubis cheated on her with. All in the name of revenge, right? It's all in the name of revenge ...
Relationships: Carter Kane/Zia Rashid, Sadie Kane/Walt Stone
Comments: 11
Kudos: 56





	1. part one

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys! thank you so much for clicking on my fic i hope u all enjoy it !!! sadie is 21 in this fic, julius is still alive, and anubis is still a douche! cheers luvs !

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sadie has a horrible revelation in her brother's kitchen

Pacing back and forth in her brother’s apartment, Sadie thinks she might actually have a full blown panic attack. Her chest was tight, her lungs couldn’t fill up all the way, as if constricted by the truth she didn’t want to uncover. While normally she would have thought girls who went through their boyfriends’ phones were psychotic, she had to give it to them. Hunches were right. And maybe Sadie herself was a little psychotic. This morning when she had gone through Anubis’s phone while he was in the shower, Sadie desperately had hoped her hunches were wrong. Nervousness flowed through Sadie’s whole body, as she bit her thumb and her finger was turning purple from where she was twisting a curl around it. Her eyes never left Carter’s face as he swiped through the pictures on her phone, his brow slowly furrowing more and more. 

See, Sadie was dating this guy named Anubis, who Carter  _ despised _ . He was way older than his sister, he seemed to only be interested in goth things like graveyards and death and  _ cigarettes _ . Sure, he was attractive, dark skin, dark eyes, the embodiment of Tall Dark and Handsome, but any interest in him should have ended there. They met at a concert, a night Sadie doesn’t exactly remember all of, which, in Carter’s most humble opinion, is sketchy as hell, at  _ best _ . 

As Carter swiped through every shaky photo of texts on Anubis’s phone, his blood was slowly starting to boil. A small part was because who else would be interested in this guy, but also because this douche was cheating on his baby sister, and was going to break her heart. 

Carter isn't one for violence, but in this moment, he is definitely considering the phrase ‘an eye for an eye.’ 

“This has to be a misunderstanding, right?” Sadie asks. She looks so, so worried, her eyes are huge; she’s about to cry. 

“Uh, Sadie, I don’t know. I think this might be a little past that. How far back do these messages go?” Carter asks, eyes reading every text. There’s a lot of ‘how was your day’ and a lot of ‘I’ll see you soon!’ and a lot of evidence that Sadie is getting cheated on, and has been getting cheated on for a while. 

“I don’t know!” 

“You said you got the contact info too, right? Why don’t you just call this other person and ask what happened?” Carter suggests, “And then maybe dump your cheating boyfriend.” 

“It could still be a misunderstanding!” Sadie protests, but it sounds a lot like she’s trying to convince herself. She comes over and takes the phone out of Carter’s hands. “What should I even say?” 

“Maybe try, ‘Hey! This is weird, but my name’s Sadie and I found your contact in my boyfriend’s phone as habibi which is funny because I’m his girlfriend!’ or something like that.”

Sadie’s thumbs aren’t already flying across her screen, acrylic making little  _ tap tap taps _ against the glass. She turns the phone around to show Carter the message she has typed out to the unknown number. 

**hey this is weird but my names sadie and i found ur contact in my bf’s phone as habibi which is weird because i’m in his phone as habibti bc i’m his gf .....**

Carter reads it over. “That sounds good. Very level headed. Poor grammar.” 

“It’s a text not a paper,” Sadie mumbles, and sends the message off. 

The two of them stand and stare at Sadie’s phone, watching as a few dots pop up on the screen to indicate typing. They disappear. Reappear. Disappear. Reappear. 

_ hey i’m walt nice to meet you  _

_ this is def weird  _

_ are u sure u have the right number ? _

**is ur bf’s name anubis?**

_... how do you feel about murder ? _

“It’s a boy?” Carter asks, watching the texts roll in. 

“Well duh, habibi is the male form. And anyways, I’ve always known Nu was bi.” Sadie looks up from her phone. “What do I say? Of course I’m down for murder.” 

Carter places his hands on Sadie’s shoulders. “Sadie, you are my sister. I love you so much. I will help you hide the body. But, I worry about your soul after you kill someone.” 

Sadie frowns, tsks, and looks back to her phone. 

**would be down my brother will hide the body ... he is concerned about how it would weigh on my soul tho**

_ lmao he sounds like a good brother  _

“I am a good brother,” Carter says, shaking his head. “So, what are you going to do about Anubis?”

That was a loaded question. Logically, Sadie knew she should break up with Anubis, he cheated on her for god knows how long, she’s texting the other person, but ... That’s two years of her life that seems down the drain. 

“Well, maybe we can work it out ...” Sadie trails off. Her voice has lost all the passion and security she normally speaks with. Carter just sighs.

“Should you though?” Carter’s voice is laced with worry and concern, “Sadie, you know how I feel about him, and what’s going to say he won’t do this again?” 

Sadie’s bottom lip wobbles a bit and she bites it to keep it in place. Her entire world feels like it’s crashing down around her, and she can’t do anything to stop it. Her nightmares are cropping up, coming into reality, floating up through the cool tile of Carter’s kitchen floors. Perhaps, she’s always known this was an option. Anubis was secretive, but it was  _ fun _ , fun to unravel all the different little mysteries about him. Now, the lack of openness started to make sense. Always keeping her things in the back of his closet. No tampons in the bathroom drawers, toothbrush always packed away when she showed up with no warning. Everything made sense. 

Now, she felt like she was in the dark again. 

Her phone buzzed. 

_ this is rly weird and u can say no but i have two tickets for a 1975 concert on friday and i was going to go with anubis but that is not happening and im assuming u like them too ....  _

Sadie stared at her phone, then showed it to Carter, who shakes his head as he reads the message. 

“This guy? I haven’t even met him and he’s lightyears better than Anubis.” Carter taps her phone screen for effect. 

**holy shit YES i put anubis onto the 1975 !!!!**

**that fucking bastard**

**u wanna get some revenge first? >:)**

_ thank god you put him onto it he played them for me and i love them  _

_ im def down for revenge  _

_ we can get coffee or something?  _


	2. part two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> an unlikely alliance is formed

Any semblance of sadness had meshed itself into anger. The longer Sadie texts Walt, who now has a proper contact in her phone, thank you very much, the angrier she gets. It wasn’t like Walt had come into the picture a few months ago, he had come into the picture six months into their relationship. That was a whole year and a half. Luckily, he was really understanding. It seemed that he was on and off most of the time with Anubis, and was more so angry he was never told about Anubis having a girlfriend. 

She had agreed to meet Walt, to plan their revenge. They had agreed to pretend nothing was wrong, so they could completely pull the rug out from under him. And now, here she was, walking to go meet him for coffee.  _ Coffee _ . However, from what Sadie could gather, Walt was nice, normal, and down to ruin Anubis’s life, which currently, was the only thing she was interested in. 

It was cold out, the December air biting at Sadie’s skin as she walked the short distance from her apartment to the coffeeshop they’d agreed to meet at. It was a small, mom and pop place, and had one of the best matcha lattes Sadie had ever had. She was pleasantly surprised to hear that Walt also loved the shop, only he preferred just a plain latte, since he didn't do super sweet things. 

Shame. 

Sadie pushes the door open, the little bells welcoming her with the smell of coffee and warm wood. She’s about to get in line when she hears a voice from behind her. 

“Hey, uh, Sadie, right?” 

Sadie turns and-- Okay, she knew Anubis was hot, but she’s probably standing in front of one of the most gorgeous people she has ever seen in her life. Honestly, she kinda can’t blame her soon-to-be ex. Walt is tall, broad shoulders and dark skin, there are tattoos on his hands which means there are tattoos  _ everywhere _ . His eyes are soft, they’re kind, they’re deep.

“Yeah! Walt, right?” 

He gives her a smile and nods, “Yeah, that’s me. I went ahead and got you your drink since I figured it’s the least I could do, medium matcha latte, right?” 

“Uh,” Sadie’s brain tries it’s hardest to catch up, but it’s really close to giving her an Error 404 message. Damn her brain. She seemed to be the only bi girl in existence where talking to men was harder than talking to women. “Yeah, yeah, that’s it. Uh, thanks, you didn’t have to, but, uh, thank you!” 

The smile doesn’t leave Walt’s face, and he seems pretty amused by Sadie’s response. He points his thumb over his shoulder. “I got us a table.” 

Soon, Sadie has her jacket thrown over the back of her chair with her scarf, the latte is comforting in Sadie’s hands, as well as warming them up quite quickly. Across from her sits Walt, wearing a chunky white fisherman’s sweater. It looked comfortable, warm, and well loved. 

“So, I’m dying to know, how did you guys meet?” Sadie asks. 

Walt waves his hand. “I got hired to do some freelance work for the company he works for. Just a little logo updating, he ended up being my contact.” 

Sadie pauses. “For the archeology company? Like, Julius Kane?” 

Walt nods, “Yeah, that’s the one! I didn’t end up changing a whole lot, but apparently they were satisfied-” 

“That’s my dad.” 

Walt pauses, not even bothered he got cut off. Sadie can watch his brain process the information. “He cheated on his boss’s daughter?” 

Sadie nods, taking a sip of her latte. “But, this just means that we can completely ruin his life! He stole two years from me, so I’m going to do the same to him!” 

The two of them plot out their revenge strategy: They break into Anubis’s place, or they use Sadie’s key to get into the apartment, get all of Sadie’s stuff, and then go to his workplace and head in together. They end things, and then the two of them go to the 1975 concert, get drunk, cry, and that’s that. 

All of Sadie’s emotions are bundled up in her chest 

“Do you think we’re acting too harshly? Do you think- I can’t-” She takes a deep breath, Walt is looking at her patiently. “Like, that’s  _ two years  _ of my life. Like, I thought I was going to marry that asshole!” 

“Sadie, if you don’t want to do it you don’t have to. Anubis and I were always on and off, so I can’t even begin to understand what you’re going through. But, I think the look on his face when we both walk through that door will be very rewarding.” 

“I can bring him his lunch,” Sadie whispers, tone melancholy. “Business as usual.” 


	3. part three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> your ex's titos is best when it's emptied into your water bottle and refilled with water

Walt picks her up from her brother’s house. He drives a nice car. He even meets Carter, who walks Sadie to the car. Her older brother shakes his hand, and he looks  _ pissed _ , and maybe a little jealous because he can’t be there to watch this all go down. He even shakes Walt’s hand. They make small talk about the upcoming basketball season. There’s a family resemblance between Sadie and Carter, they’re siblings, of course there is, but it lies in their jawlines and the shape of their eyes, their brow bones even match. They hold their shoulders in the same way. 

The ride to Anubis’s place is quiet. Sadie takes the aux, and the music pairs nicely with the flurries outside, that get knocked off by the rhythmic swish of the windshield wipers. They pull into the driveway of the townhouse and climb out. Sadie unlocks the front door and smiles when his little poodle runs up to greet them, her collar tag clinking as her paws patter on the hardwood floors. 

“Oh, it’s my baby!” Sadie coos, crouching down, “Hi, sweet poochiekins! Aw, who’s a good girl?” 

The poodle, Ammit, licks Sadie’s jaw and dances happily around her feet. “Oh, I’m going to miss you so much,” Sadie whispers, “You’re an angel, so if you ever want to escape, you are more then welcome to come stay with me and Muffin.” 

Ammit gets a happy little yap at that, before going to greet Walt. He gives her head a little pet, before she goes back to running circles around Sadie. Sadie stands and absently pets the dog, looking at Walt, “Okay, so most of my stuff is upstairs, and some of my nice pyrex tupperware is in the kitchen, need that back. Do you think we could, like, smash a window or something?” 

“I think he might press charges, but we could probably put all of his DVDs and CDs in the wrong cases,” Walt suggests, “I think I might want to take some of my favorite mugs. Maybe we can rearrange his kitchen while we’re here.” 

Sadie’s jaw drops a little. “That’s brilliant, Walt.” 

Walt’s face heats up a little at the complement and he rubs the back of his head, “Yeah, yeah, thank you.” 

Sadie hangs her jacket and scarf up, and even takes off her shoes before heading upstairs to Anubis’s bedroom. It’s clean, a wash of white and grey and black, and Sadie turns on the TV and pulls up Spotify, and blasts The Regrettes’ throughout the house. She opens the drawers and starts pulling out her clothes she’s left there, trackpants, tee shirts, jeans. She decides she’s owed Anubis’ vintage Metallica shirt, so she throws it on the bed too. If Anubis wanted to keep it, maybe he shouldn't have been a cheating asshole. 

Walt comes into the room and looks at the pile of clothes on the bed with an eyebrow raised, then heads into the bathroom. He decides, just to be petty, to dig around and find both his and Sadie’s toothbrushes. 

“Are you the bamboo one?” Walt asks, holding it up. Sadie pokes her head around to look and nods. 

“That’s the one.” 

“Cool, thanks,” Walt says, and sets them both out. He swirls Anubis’s toothbrush in the toilet water, before coming back out and unmatches all of Anubis’s socks. 

Sadie watches with great interest. “Hm. Remind me to never give you a reason to get vengeful with me.” 

“I think that goes both ways,” Walt chuckles. 

A small smile pulls at Sadie’s face as she takes her things downstairs, setting them on the couch. She swings by the front door and pulls her big water bottle out of her bag, and then heads into the kitchen. Opening up the liquor cabinet, Sadie crouches down to pull the handle of Tito’s out and empties the rest of it into her water bottle, and fills it back up with water. She leaves the glass bottle under the running sink, and starts to hunt for her tupperware. In the fridge, she finds some of the food she cooked the other day and takes it too. Her lasagna  _ slaps _ and Anubis does not get to enjoy it anymore. 

Walt comes into the kitchen and smiles when he sees the small dose of chaos happening. “You stealing his food?” 

“I cooked it,” Sadie says, “I don’t want him to be able to get energy from my labor. And anyways, it’s  _ so  _ good, if I don’t say so myself.” 

They end up taking a little bit of time to just finish the lasagna, which Walt admits is the best lasagna he’s ever had. Sadie’s smile is full of pride. They leave the dishes unwashed in the sink. The Tito’s gets put back in the liquor cabinet. They play with Ammit outside, throwing her ball around and giving her cuddles on the couch, assuring her that she's the best girl in the whole world. Sadie chokes up a little when she says bye to her favorite poochiekins, kissing her nose and taking a few pictures of her. 

“I wish I could take you too,” Sadie whispers, scratching the dog behind her ears, “I love you, you dummy.” 

They leave the house as clean as it was when they arrived, and soon the two of them are off to pick up lunch for Anubis. Sadie also orders food for her dad, since she’s going to be going there anyways. The closer they get to the offices, the more and more scared Sadie seems to get. She becomes more reserved, she doesn’t mouth along the words to the music, she fiddles with the handles on the bag. 

The ride in the elevator is silent. When they reach the fifth floor, Sadie straightens her back and tosses her hair over her shoulder, and takes a deep breath before the doors open. Anubis is sitting at the desk, concentrating on the computer, and looks over when the elevator dings. He’s attractive as ever, he’s been growing out his beard for the winter, and it looks nice with his longer hair. 

His look of joy when he sees Sadie quickly falls into fear when he sees who she’s with. 

Sadie all but stalks towards him, and Walt decides he’s never going to cross Sadie. Ever. 

“I brought you lunch,” She says, rooting around in the paper bag and producing a salad. She put strawberries on it. Anubis hates strawberries. “Have you met my friend Walt, babe?” When Anubis answers by licking his lips nervously, Sadie adds, “Pick your words very, very carefully.” 

The salad gets set down on the desk, and Walt sets a coffee down next to it. Anubis is staring, shocked, mouth slightly open. “What if we don’t do this here? I can take my lunch-” 

“No, we’re doing this here,” Sadie says, crossing her arms, “You lied to me for a year and a half. We can do this here. Are you scared of my dad hearing about this?” 

Anubis’ Adam's apple bobs. Yes. “Sadie, it’s not what you thin-”

“Dude, stop lying,” Walt says. “You fucked up. You fucked up big time.”

The tension in the room is so thick, it sticks to every surface like fog. The three of them stand there, two against one. Around the corner, Sadie can hear her dad. 

“Anubis, is Sadie here?” He rounds the corner, his voice excited, and blinks at the site in front of him. The anger radiating off of Sadie is enough to worry Julius. “Is ... everything okay?” 

“I brought you lunch,” Sadie says, putting on a big smile for Julius, holding the bag to him. “Dad, this is my new friend Walt. We’re going to a concert tonight together. You want to know how we met?” 

Julius seems skeptical, but takes the salad. “Thank you for lunch, Sadie. How did you two meet?” 

“Turns out,  _ he’s _ ,” Sadie speaks with so much venom in her voice as she points to Anubis, it's a miracle he doesn’t die then and there, “Has been cheating on me for the past year and a half.” 

The words don't seem to process for a few moments. He turns to Walt. “You had no idea?” 

“No sir. I was just as surprised as she was.”

Julius nods and turns back to Sadie. “You know I can’t fire people for non-work related reasons. That’s what unions are for.”

Sadie frowns. “Well, anyways.” She takes off Anubis’s house key from her key ring and all but chucks it at him. It hits him right in the shoulder and he winces, bringing a hand up to rub at his shoulder. “Don’t ever fucking talk to me again, unless it’s to let me adopt your fucking dog.” She turns back to her dad, “Family dinner on Sunday?” 

“Sadie, wait, let me explain-” Anubis tries, but everyone seems to be ignoring him. 

Julius seems shocked, but there’s an underlying anger there that matches the same Carter had earlier. “Of course. I’ll see you then.” 

Sadie nods, and looks back to Anubis. She takes a deep breath. Her hand clenches into a fist. “You better be so fucking happy I’m in therapy now.” 

And with that, she turns and goes to wait for the elevator. Walt looks at Anubis, then at Julius, “Well, it was nice to meet you, sir.” 

Julius nods at him. “Of course. Thank you for driving her. You ... You did drive her right?” 

Walt nods, “Uh, yes?” 

The elevator dings. Sadie calls behind her shoulder, “Walt, you coming?” 

He nods, “Well, uh, bye.” He looks at Anubis, “Especially to you. You’re a grade-A douche.” 

As the elevator doors close, the pair of unlikely allies can hear Julius all but seething. “You have five minutes before you need to leave for the day, preferably with all of your stuff.”

The elevator doors close and Sadie slumps against the wall, closing her eyes. She lets out a shaky exhale, and puts her head in her hands. “I can’t wait to tell my therapist about this. She’s going to have a field day with this.” 

Walt gives a little laugh at that. 


	4. part four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sometimes .... you just need to have a claw and cry to adele's 19 with the guy your ex cheated on you with. it's normal, right?

The concert is fun. Sadie and Walt get drunk enough that they end up taking an Uber back to Walt’s place, not wanting the night to end quite yet. They have lots of photos taken by the girls next to them, who were absolutely enamoured with how Sadie and Walt met each other. In the back of the uber, Sadie and Walt are laughing at nothing, everything is funnier since the world is slightly blurry around them. 

The moon follows their car, hiding behind the clouds as they get closer to Walt’s place. 

“I have a roommate,” Walt warns, “She’s really sweet, though. Her name’s Jaz. She’s responsible.” 

“Cool. I live by myself, but it’s really small.” 

“You live by yourself?” 

“I have daddy issues,” Sadie supplies. “You wanna come over to my place instead?” 

Walt laughs at that. “Sure, we can go to your place. You wanna talk about it?” 

Sadie shrugs, “If you want. But, my dad lost a custody battle for me after my mom died. It’s okay now, he pays my rent and my utilities. I can’t complain.”

She immediately wishes she could take the words back, because Walt looks really concerned. 

“Sadie, that’s really fucked up.” 

“I know. But, look, life is fucked up. But it brought us together, if not in a weird way.”

They change the address the uber is taking them to. They head to Sadie’s apartment. 

The inside is cluttered, but it’s clean. Homey. The walls are tan, there’s lots of natural light, and from the doorway all of the apartment is visible. There’s a TV and a sofa, as well as a record player and an impressive stereo system. The kitchen is nice, it appears to have recently been redone, and next to it is an ajar door that leads back to Sadie’s room, which is covered in clothes and a soft light illuminates it. 

Sadie takes off her jacket and hangs it up, and kicks off her boots, having to sit down to get it done. She then stands and heads over to the kitchen, filling up an aroma diffuser and adding a few drops to it, turning it on. 

“Uh, make yourself at home. You want something to drink? Or eat? I can make popcorn?” 

Walt hangs up his coat, “Uh, sure. Popcorn is good. What do you have to drink?”

Sadie hums and puts a bag of popcorn in the microwave, then opens the fridge. “Well, I have water, I have cherry vanilla coke, I have half a bottle of some really bad white wine, and I have some white claws. What’s your poison?” 

The fridge illuminates Sadie’s face, and Walt finds himself walking over to look over her shoulder. “Let’s not change alcohol, can I have a claw?” 

“Fuck yes,” Sadie says, “It’s only mango, though.” 

“That’s the best one. Glad you aren’t a black cherry kinda girl.” 

“Please,” Sadie pulls out two white claws and hands Walt one, “I have taste.” 

Walt just laughs at that. “Thanks for coming with me tonight.” 

“Uh, thank  _ you  _ for inviting me. And helping me dump Anubis,” Sadie says, pulling out their popcorn and opening the bag, taking a deep breath of it. Heavenly. She pours it into a bowl and offers some to Walt, who gladly accepts. 

They end up migrating to sit on her sofa, leaning back against the arm rests so they can look at each other. Sadie puts on an album, an artist Walt has never heard of, but they sing softly and provide good background music. Walt points over at a hot pink bass that’s sitting next to the record player. 

“Do you play?” 

Sadie nods, “Yeah, back in like, high school. And a little bit in college, at least before I dropped out. I was in a garage band.” She smiles. “I have a drumset in my room.” 

“That’s so cool,” Walt whispers. “Why’d you drop out?” 

“I’m not good at it. I went to cosmetology school instead, and that’s worked out perfect for me since then.” 

Walt nods, and eats some more popcorn. The apartment smells like lavender and oranges. It’s homey. “Would you do it again?” 

“Do what again? College?” 

“No, play music.” 

“I mean, yeah. If I could play with the same girls again, you know? Get back on my man-hating bullshit. Like, ugh, this is  _ so  _ stupid and it should have been a big red flag, but Anubis is a big reason as to why I stopped playing. I just ... I put a  _ man _ before what I wanted which is  _ ridiculous _ , you know?” 

Walt nods, perfectly happy to sit and listen to Sadie, eating popcorn and drinking glorified seltzer water. Mouth open, about to speak, Sadie is cut off by the sight of her cat coming around the corner of the couch. She gasps and makes little  _ pspsps _ sounds, trying to get the orange tabby to jump up onto the couch next to her. Instead, Muffin just fixes Sadie with a look, rubs her face against the edge of the couch, before going to investigate the record player. 

“Walt, this is my baby Muffin. I hope you aren’t allergic, I should have said something sooner, but I assumed because of Ammit ...” 

“Nah, it’s cool. I don’t mind cats. They just don’t like me.” 

“Well, Muffin doesn’t like most people. But I love her. Which is really all that matters.” 

The song changes, and with it does Sadie’s mood. She feels like crying again. To not ruin her makeup, Sadie tilts her head back and presses her finger to her waterline, pressing so the tear forming will just roll over to her finger. 

After a beat of silence, Walt points over at her Switch, which is charging by the TV. “What kinda games you got?” He asks, trying to distract Sadie. He doesn’t exactly know how to help, or what would even be allowed for him to do to help, given how they met. 

It works, though. Sadie sniffs a bit and looks over. “I mean, the usual. Smash, Pokémon, Animal Crossing ... You wanna see Aiai?” 

“What’s Aiai?” Walt asks.

“My island,” Sadie says, already getting up and turning on the TV, grabbing her controller. The game boots up and Sadie takes Walt on a tour. She’s logged a lot of hours on this game. 

“This is pretty impressive,” Walt says, taking a sip of his drink. “My step sister plays this a lot, but her island is nowhere near as developed as yours.” 

“I play when I’m anxious,” Sadie says, going to talk to Pekoe. Her island is 5 stars, heavily decorated, roads to every shop and home. “What’s your stepsister like?” 

“Spoiled and rambunctious,” Walt says automatically. It makes Sadie laugh. “I know she’s probably really sweet, but she’s in eighth grade.” 

“Ah, realizing the world is horrible, huh?” 

“That’s the one,” Walt says, “Her name is Stephanie.” After a beat, he offers more information. “My mom recently remarried. Some guy named Mark. Anyways, all I know about him is he’s a real estate agent and he likes fishing, and spends a lot of time in Miami.”

“So you don’t like him,” Sadie supplies. 

“Nah, but he makes Mom happy, so I can’t complain.” 

Sadie hums. “Are you and your mom close?” 

“I think we are. She, uh, she raised me by herself. So ...” Walt trails off, watching Sadie catch a clownfish. 

“What about your dad?”

“Oh, he died before I was born. Cancer.” 

Sadie’s quiet for a moment. “Oh. I didn’t know. I’m sorry.” 

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I didn’t know him. And, anyways, Mom talks about him so little I don’t think I would know him even if he was alive.” 

Sadie looks down at the remote in her hands. She debates for a second if she’s going to bear her soul back a bit, and then decides against it. “You think you have daddy issues because of it?”

Walt laughs. “I’ve definitely been called a people pleaser, so I think so.” 

Sadie grins at that. “You wanna play Smash or something?” 

“Sure. I play as Peach, though.” 

“Cool. I play as Bowser.” 

The juxtaposition of their choice fighters seems to reflect something inside of them. Their matches are even, they seem to each be just as bad as the other at the game. Sadie wins again, and weirdly feels like she’s going to start crying again. 

“I really thought he loved me.” Quickly, she wipes it away. “Can I play you one of my favorite albums, Walt?” 

“Course,” Walt whispers. He sets his controller on the table, eyes following Sadie. 

She nods and stands, opening up the record player and placing a vinyl on it. Slowly, it starts to stretch across the room. Sadie removes Walt’s white claw from where it's balanced in his lap, sets it on the table, and then lies down. 

“It’s better like this.” Carpet. Alcohol pulling her muscles into the ground. Acoustic guitar fills the room, and tears start poking at Sadie’s eyes. 

Walt lays down so his head is next to hers, feet in the opposite direction. 

“How are you doing?” Sadie asks, softly. 

Walt is quiet for a few moments, and when he speaks next, his throat is tight. “Hurt. Betrayed. I feel stupid and used.” 

Sadie laughs at that. It’s not a joyful one, it’s one of understanding and mirth. “Me too. I- I had him added on my pinterest wedding board. I can’t believe he lied for so long.” 

Adele starts singing, her voice mixing with the acoustics, soaking into the carpet and into the breaks in the two young adult’s hearts. Sadie mouths the words along with such emotion, Walt feels like he’s glimpsing at her soul. Passionate, and right now, shattered. 

Without thinking, lips loosened by cheap wine, Walt speaks. “I can see why Anubis loved you.” 

Sadie swallows, wiping away a tear that runs down through her temple. “What do you mean?” 

“You’re just ... So full of life. I think he’s always searching for things to make him feel alive. I think ... I think I was just a thrill to get his adrenaline pumping.”

“Do you love him?” 

“Huh?”

“Did you love him?” 

Walt sighs, “I don’t know. I never saw us going anywhere, but I was ... Drawn. I wanted to know him. I think I was in love with his mystery.” 

Sadie lets out a small hum. “I’ve been trying to think about what I know about him, and you know what? It’s turning out to be very little.” 

The two of them fall back into a comfortable silence. A mixture of the alcohol and the long day, Sadie ends up falling asleep. Her head rolls to the side, and the carpet has never been more comfortable, the music has never been more comforting, and the presence next to her slowly lulls her into a deep sleep. 


	5. part five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hangovers, cats, sleepovers

Sadie wakes up in her bed. Her clothes that used to litter the bed have been placed on a plush chair in the corner of the room, completely covering it. Her bedroom door is cracked open, and there are sounds of someone moving around. Sadie brings a hand to rub at her eyes, and is shocked to see her eyelashes are on her nightstand, and her phone is plugged in and charging. 

“I hear you, Muffin, but I have  _ no idea _ where your mom keeps your food,” Sadie hears Walt say, as well as some cabinets opening and closing. “I don’t even know your food routine, can you just wait until she wakes up?” 

Muffin lets out a defiant meow. 

Sadie decides it’s time to make an appearance. She’s dressed in pajamas, her top and bottom from two different matching sets. In the kitchen, Walt is dressed in one of her dad’s old shirts and some sweatpants Anubis had left a while ago. 

“Where’d you get that shirt?” Sadie asks, going over to the cabinet where Muffin’s food was. 

“Uh, you lent it to me last night,” Walt says, “You insisted I stay, uh, so I slept on the couch.” 

Sadie cracked open Muffin’s food, which caused her to just meow more and more, circling around Sadie’s legs. The couch was unfolded as a bed. “Oh, sick. Okay. Uh, you sleep alright?” 

Walt nods, “Yeah, how are you feeling?” 

“I’ll have a hangover in a few minutes,” Sadie says, setting Muffin’s food down for her. “It hasn’t hit in yet. How are you feeling? You want anything for breakfast?” 

“I’m alright. I think you definitely had more to drink than I did. And sure, what are you making?” 

“I was gonna make hashbrowns, maybe some eggs? I dunno. I haven’t decided yet.” Sadie makes her way over to the fridge and pulls out a carton of eggs, and a bag of hashbrowns out of the freezer. “You like fried eggs?” 

“Of course I do. I just can’t make them,” Walt says. 

Sadie hums and turns some music on her phone, and grabs a pan out. “Alright, well, fried eggs, hashbrowns, amazing. Show stopping. Perfect hangover meal. You wanna make some toast? It’s in the breadbox over there.” 

Sadie nods to a breadbox that’s been painted by a child while she washes her hands, before she sets about cooking. After about ten minutes, breakfast is ready and Sadie is popping ibuprofen, offering some to Walt, who gladly accepts. They wash it down with orange juice, before they sit at the little table to eat. They eat in silence, Led Zeppelin serenading them from the speakers. 

“I’d offer to take you home, but I can’t drive,” Sadie says. She gives a small shrug. “I failed my driving test too many times.” 

Walt chuckles. “It’s no problem, I can ask Jaz to come pick me up.” 

“What’s she like? Jaz?” 

Walt dips some of his hasbrows into the runny egg yolk “She’s nice. She’s a nurse. She  _ always _ has girls over, so ... You know how lesbians are.” 

Sadie knows quite well. “She at least offer you earbuds?” 

“God, no. I have headphones, and she does stuff like this, picks me up and makes me soup when I’m sick. Also, this breakfast? It’s really good.” 

“Thanks, I dropped out of culinary school, I’d hope it would be good,” Sadie says with a smile. 

The two continue to eat, and Walt texts Jaz. When Sadie stands to do the dishes, Walt stands faster, “You cooked, I can clean,” He says, taking her alte over to the sink. 

“Oh, thanks,” Sadie says, slowly sitting back down as she watches Walt wash the dishes. Anubis never washed the dishes for her, but Carter always said it was just something that people did because it was the right thing to do. He also always said something about chivalry, but she had always thought Anubis was chivalrous. Up until recently, of course. 

Thirty minutes later, Sadie is a little sad to see Walt go. She walks him to her door, but he insists she doesn’t have to walk him all the way out, she’s still in her pajamas and it wouldn’t be right to make her go into public like that. They hug, he gives her a goofy grin. 

“We should hang out again. I had a lot of fun,” Walt says in her doorway, still wearing his borrowed clothes, bundled up in his jacket and his boots. 

“Definitely,” Sadie says, tucking a strand of curls behind her hair. “Maybe we can go ice skating or something.” 

“I would love to. Anubis hated ice skating, we should just do it out of spite, right?” 

Sadie smiles, “Of course. Out of spite. I’m not very good, though. I always wanted to go.” 

“Yeah, it’ll be fun. I’ll text you about it, okay?” 

“Mhm. I’ll wait in anticipation,” Sadie says softly. Everything feels happy and sad at the same time. There’s waves of turmoil in her chest, dropping to her stomach and through her heart, pumping through her veins with every heartbeat. Walt gives her a hug as a parting symbol, before heading to the elevator. 

“I want that shirt back,” Sadie calls, “So I better see you sooner rather than later!” 

Walt just chuckles and nods, “Yes ma’am.” He gives her a little wave when the elevator arrives. The doors slide shut the same time Sadie closes her door. 

Muffin is sitting looking at Sadie with her head tilted. That cat always seemed like it knew more than a cat should. 

“What?” Sadie asked her. 

All Muffin gave her was a little meow, before turning to go sit in the windowsill and watch the snow flurries outside.


	6. part six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sunday nights are for family dinners

Family dinner was a normal, usual occurrence every Sunday night at Julius Kane’s house. Sometimes he would make pasta, but most of the time he’d just ask Carter to pick pizza up on his way over along with his sister. 

Tonight was no exception. They all sat around the dining room table, bigger since Carter’s girlfriend, Zia, and Julius’s brother, Amos, were in town, so the invitation was obviously extended to them. There were water glasses and beer bottles at every place set, and everyone was happily eating the pizza. 

“So Sadie,” Julius ventures, “How was the concert?” 

Sadie slowly sets her beer bottle down, “It was good.” 

Julius slowly pries for more information. “Oh, what was your favorite part?” 

“Oh, the singer always does this big rant about climate change or something and he did it on abortion rights because, well, you know,” She waves her hand in the air to avoid discussing the disaster of their government right now. “But it was fun. I went home after, played some Smash with Walt, and then went to bed. You know, normal night.” 

“Who’s Walt?” Amos asks. 

Sadie glances over at her dad, who is currently helping himself to another slice of pizza. “He’s the guy Nu cheated on me with for the past year and a half.”

If Zia was holding cutlery, she might have dropped it, but luckily, she has a firm grip on her pizza “And you just went to a concert with him?” 

“Yeah,” Sadie says, “He already had the tickets, why wouldn’t I?” 

“Because I would have burned both their houses down,” Zia says, blinks once, and doesn’t drop Sadie’s gaze. 

“Loud and clear,” Carter mutters under his breath. 

“Yeah, well, Carter’s a fucking simp, you don’t have to worry about this ever happening to you.”

“Language!” Julius reprimands while Carter protests the obviously true statement, “Hey!” 

“Are you guys going to hang out again?” Amos asks, sprinkling another heap of red pepper flakes onto his slice of pizza before taking a bite out of it. 

Sadie pauses, trying to choose her words carefully. “Yeah ... I’m actually going over to his place on Tuesday to watch the Bachelor with him and his roommate.” 

“Is he gay?” Carter asks. 

Sadie takes a second and pushes her tongue against a molar, trying to get some crust out while she thinks, “It never came up. I dunno. Maybe? He likes guys. Uncle Amos, pass me the pepper flakes.” 

“Please,” Julius attempts, but Sadie just ignores him as she reaches over her father to grab the flakes out of Amos’s hand, the two of them stretching out of their seats. Julius just sighs and looks at Zia, “How is your dissertation going?” 

“It’s going alright. I’m waiting on a few papers to come through the university library ...” 

Easily, Sadie zones out. Blah blah blah, Zia and Carter working on getting degrees and school. Boring boring boring. Sadie lets her mind wander while she pulls onions off her pizza. She needed to demolish that log bridge on Aiai and replace it with a brick one ... Or maybe a zen one ... Zen ... Maybe Sadie should take Zia up on her offer to go with her and Carter to yoga on Monday nights ... Ugh, she had work tomorrow. Bridal shower ... 

The thought of having to be at a wedding tomorrow made Sadie’s stomach flip. She stood up, “Sorry, just gonna,” Pointing to the bathroom, Sadie not-so-politely excuses herself. 

Carters brow furrows, “You good, Sadie?” 

“Peachy.” Sadie gives him a little ‘okay’ sign with her fingers, giving away the sarcasm of the statement, before heading into the bathroom, closing the door. 

Outside, she can hear conversation renew again. Carter laughs, too loud, Zia probably made some bad joke that has Carter’s lovesick brain rolling. 

Sadie checks her phone while she sits on the toilet. She has an impressive number of missed calls from Anubis. Quickly, she reads the audio transcripts on her phone, and sighs. Most of it is illegible, but the gist is a lot of ‘take me back! I love you!’

“Shut up,” Sadie mumbles to herself, taking a screenshot of the transcripts and sends them to Walt. 

**get a load of this bs**

With that, Sadie decides to rejoin her family, crying can always happen later. She washes her hands and heads out, sitting back down. 

Luckily, no one says anything. Everyone is focused on Amos, who is telling the latest drama from his band practice. Carter casts a long glance at Sadie, who pointedly ignores it, keeping her eyes solely trained on her uncle. Someone is sleeping with someone else, blah blah blah. Very Fleetwood Mac of them. Sadie silently commends them for it. 

Her phone buzzes. She slowly slides it out of her pocket to read the message under the table. 

_ damn  _

_ he still works for your dad? _

**yea**

**unions n stuff**

_ awkward _

**lmao tell me about it**

“What’s so important?”

Sadie jumps a bit at that and looks at her dad, who’s looking at her expectantly. Eyebrows raised, elbows on the table, hands clasped at chin level. 

“Uh, nothing? Just, just some work stuff,” Sadie mumbles, putting her phone back in her pocket. It buzzes a few more times. “It can wait though.”

Her phone buzzes a few more times.  _ Damn, is Walt writing an essay?  _ When it starts buzzing like it’s ringing, Sadie checks it and sees that, once again, Anubis is calling her. She ends the call and puts it away. 

“Okay that last one wasn’t work but I’m done, all done!” To prove her point, Sadie sits up in her chair and leans forward, placing her arms on the table. 

Julius seems a little displeased, but he lets it slide. But honestly, most of the time it feels like he  _ is  _ displeased with Sadie, so she doesn’t let it get to her. Amos continues right where he left off. 

“... So, if you ever want to play again, Sadie, there might be a spot for a new drummer,” Amos offers. 

“You guys don’t hate men enough for me to join, sorry,” Sadie says, and smiles because it makes Amos laugh. She could always count on Uncle Amos to find her jokes funny. 

“Well, the door’s always open,” Amos says with a smile. 

“Thanks, I’ll keep it in the back of my mind.” 

Sometimes, like now, Sadie could actively tell when her father and uncle were trying to make up for lost time, trying to salvage a bridge they tried so hard to keep from burning down. Doors are always open, they’re never shut. And maybe, just maybe, Sadie learned how to play the bass so she could hang out with her uncle and always have something to talk to him about. 

He didn’t need to know that. 

But he does. 


	7. part seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> its tuesday. you know what is on tuesdays? the bachelor.

Sometimes, Sadie wonders what she’s doing with her life. Like right now, as she waits for the glue of her false eyelashes to get tacky. She gives them a little blow. Is it stupid to wear false lashes to a Bachelor viewing? There’s going to be wine and popcorn and couches. Either way, she puts them on, using her fingers and the end of an eyeshadow brush to get her inner corner to stick. 

_ im leaving now so ill be there in 5  _

Sadie frowns at the text, glancing at the time. 

**buzz urself in im not going to be ready by then ur early**

_ bet np _

Sadie stands there and rocks back and forth to the music playing off her phone, waiting for her lashes to dry. She presses the end of the eyeshadow brush to them, pushing her natural ones against the fakes, testing the dryness. She deems them dry, and applies mascara to meld the two together. 

Then, she applies highlighter, soft and buttery. The pan has a paw print in it, from where Muffin stepped in it the other day. Sadie had been mad, but it was  _ cute _ . With dark eyeshadow, Sadie reapplies her moles, and then heads into her bedroom to pick out an outfit. 

Chunky sweater? Check. White with a heavy risk of getting foundation on it? Sadie doubles back to her bathroom and gives her face another mist of setting spray.  _ Then _ she’s ready to don the sweater, some leggings, and her favorite fuzzy socks. 

The door buzzes, and Sadie goes to let Walt in. He’s bundled up, and holding two to go cups. 

“Hey,” He says, and hands her a cup. “Matcha latte, almond milk.” 

“Oh, thanks,” Sadie says, “Come on in. I just need to finish taking care of my hair and stuff and then I’ll be ready. You can sit with me in my bathroom if you want.

“Sure,” Walt says, and follows Sadie into the bathroom. It’s messy, there’s makeup piled high in a cart, all over the counters, and a large amount of hair products. Muffin is fast asleep over the heating vent, and Sadie is still playing classic rap. She moves a towel off the lid of the toilet for Walt to sit, and he goes ahead and plops himself down, taking off his scarf and unbuttoning his jacket. 

“You know, you don’t have to keep buying me drinks,” Sadie says, gathering her hair to put it into two space buns on the top of her head. 

Walt shrugs and sips his, “Feels like the right thing to do.” 

Sadie gives him a big smile, and secures her hair with hair ties and bobby pins that she has to pry open with her teeth. Sadie puts in some hoops and then some lip gloss, smiling at Walt. “Alright, I’m ready.” 

Walt nods and follows her out, swinging by the kitchen to grab some cookies Sadie had made, and then stands behind her while she locks her door. He sips his drink and takes in the hallway, the bad floors, the bad wallpaper. 

They take the stairs down, and Sadie makes a little conversation. “Thanks for coming to pick me up.” 

“It’s no problem. I don’t want you to walk in this weather or have to take the bus.” Walt gets the car door for her before climbing into his own side. 

“How chivalrous of you,” Sadie comments as she buckles up. 

“My mom did her due diligence.” Walt gives her a smile that could help the moon light up. She can’t help but return it. 

Sadie connects to Walt’s bluetooth and picks up her playlist from where they left off, with OutKast apologizing to Ms. Jackson. They’re interrupted, however, by Sadie's phone ringing. 

“Ugh, Jesus Christ,” Sadie swears, ending the call. “I swear, this asshole calls me like every thirty minutes, to the minute. I’m going to have enough voice messages from him to become a Soundcloud rapper.” 

“Anubis?” Walt asks. 

“Yeah.” 

Walt gives a little hum. “He’s only tried to get into contact with me a few times. I picked up the first time and told him to lose my number.” 

Sadie sighs, looking out the window, using her hands to help drive her point home. “I don’t even want to dignify him with a call. I did the same, yelled at him, got a fucking  _ noise complaint _ , like, sorry, my cheating ass ex won’t leave me alone! But he  _ still _ keeps calling. I don’t know why he expects anything to change, I don’t even want to hear his stupid voice anymore!” 

That was a lie. Sadie laid in bed last night and finished that shitty white wine and listened to all his messages, crying while a fake fireplace played on her computer, Muffin curled up next to her, purring away loudly. 

It takes longer than five minutes to get to Walt’s house, which Sadie notes but doesn’t say anything out loud about it. Walt lives closer to downtown, he’s not far from Carter, actually. 

Walt’s apartment is on the sixth floor, and they have a doormat outside their apartment that says ‘Bitch don’t wear no shoes in my house.’ 

The inside of his apartment is modern, with large windows and a messy kitchen that seems to have been tidied up maybe a few minutes earlier. 

“Hey, Jaz!” Walt calls, and the woman sitting on the couch turns around and smiles, and comes over to say hi. 

Jaz is, to say the least, beautiful. She has dark skin, dark brown hair that’s braided back in two braids down her back. She’s wearing a sorority shirt, she’s someone’s Kappa Kappa Crush, and has satin pants on that Sadie is pretty sure she owns a pair of. Her smile is radiant, and if Sadie was twelve, she’d hate her. But she’s not twelve, and Jaz has perfect eyebrows, so Sadie knows she has no choice but to befriend her. 

“You must be Sadie,” Jaz says. Her voice drawls when she speaks, warm and soothing. “Walt’s told me so much about you!” 

“All good things, I hope,” Sadie says with a smile. 

“Of course, of course! Can I hug you?” 

“She’s a hugger,” Walt adds, but Sadie is already letting Jaz hug her. She smells like gold and cashmere. If Sadie was eleven, she’d have a crush on her that she wouldn’t know what to do with. 

Jaz releases Sadie, and then looks at the cookies Walt has in his hands. “Oh, Walt said you were planning on making cookies!” 

Soon, the three of them sit in front of the TV. Jaz is curled up in an armchair, which seems to be her normal seat while Walt gets the couch. Walt moves a throw blanket out of the way for him and Sadie to plop down. 

Walt grabs two cookies, and hands one to Sadie, who gladly accepts. Jaz starts up the show, and they all settle in to watch. 

Throughout the whole thing, Jaz is hilarious with her commentary. It ranges far beyond ‘he’s not even that cute!’ They laugh at obviously staged interactions, comment on how pretty the dresses are, the girls are, and whether or not they would be on the Bachelor. 

Jaz would do it to woo one of the girls and proclaim her love for her and they’d run away. Walt would not participate, thank you very much, since he had basically just lost. The comment made Sadie laugh, and she has to agree with him. Participating on the Bachelor wasn’t exactly her speed. 

Halfway through, Sadie tucks her legs up under her and reaches for another cookie. She settles back in, eyes fixed on the screen as she watches a girl with blonde hair and bright green eyes talk about how she thought the bachelor was her soulmate after greeting him. 

A tap on her thigh jostles Sadie slightly and she looks over to where Walt is offering her the other half of the blanket. 

“Thanks,” Sadie whispers, gladly accepting. The blanket is soft, dark blue and printed with little snowflakes. It’s one of the softest things Sadie has ever felt. “This is so soft.” She keeps her voice quiet, not wanting to interrupt the show. 

“I know,” Walt whispers back, taking a bite of his own cookie. “Hey, do you smoke?” 

“Yeah, do I look like I don’t?” 

Walt grins at her. “Cool. Just wanted to check.” He turns back to the TV, which illuminates his face and highlights his jawbone and his cheekbones. 

For some reason, Carter’s voice echoes in his head.  _ Is he gay?  _

Once the episode is over Jaz turns to face them, legs across an armrest, eating a cookie. “So, Sadie. What do you do for a job?” 

“I’m a makeup artist. You’re a nurse, right?” 

“Yeah. Have you ever done makeup on someone really famous?” 

Sadie laughs and shakes her head. “Nah, my clientele is mainly girls going to prom and brides. Let me tell you, the amount of juicy gossip I-“ Sadie’s cut off by her phone ringing, on the table and lighting up with Anubis’s contact across the screen. “Jee-ezus,” Sadie groans, leaning forwards and silencing it. She settles back into the sofa, hugging a knee to her chest. “But yeah, prom and brides. Nothing too exciting.” 

Jaz nods along. “Cool. Cool cool cool. Share the gossip?” 

“Oof,” Sadie racks her brain for a good one. “Well, I had a girl break up with her boyfriend while I was in the middle of doing her makeup. Like on the phone. They were shouting and everything!” 

“Damn, what happened?” Walt asked. 

“Oh, he called her a slew of curse words and she didn’t really enjoy it. So she broke up with him. Crazy times, high school.” 

Jaz hummed, finishing her cookie. “Thanks for bringing the cookies, by the way. They’re delicious. But I’m gonna head to bed, I have an early shift tomorrow. It was really great getting to meet you, Sadie.”

“Oh, no problem,” Sadie says, “It was really great getting to meet you too, Jaz.” 

“You should come next week too. This was fun.” 

Sadie’s chest felt a little warm. “Yeah, yeah, I’d love to! As long as I don’t have work, but I'm sure I won’t.” 

“Cool. Alright, Night y’all.”

“Night, Jaz,” Walt says while Sadie gives a smile, “Night.” 

And soon, it’s just Sadie and Walt, and the TV playing on mute. Walt shifts to face Sadie full on. “Do you want me to take you home? Or do you wanna smoke or something?” 

Sadie hums and stretches her arms above her head. “As tempting as it is, I should head home. Maybe next time, though.” She gives Walt a wink. “And I don’t want you drivin’ me home under the influence.” 

“How responsible of you,” Walt says, “You wanna go now?”

Sadie gives a little sigh. It was already nearing 10:30. “It’s probably a smart idea.” 

However, she doesn’t move off the sofa, and neither does Walt. 

“Have you seen the documentary on Scientology on Hulu?” Walt asks. 

“What, no!” 

“There’s like three seasons of it. You wanna watch some?” 

Sadie’s nod has her getting driven home closer to two am. The ride back is filled with Lenny Kravitz in the background, and discussion is disbelief. 

“That was crazy,” Sadie says, “I’m definitely bingeing all of that tonight. Have you seen it all?” 

“Not yet, I’m only a few episodes into season three. But it’s good, right?” 

“Ugh, yes! The host, Linda? She’s fucking amazing.” 

“I know! It’s so crazy that there’s all of those disclaimers, too. Like, woah!” 

“Just proves it’s all real, right?” Sadie points out, “Would you join a cult?” 

Walt thinks it over for a second. “If the leader was cute enough, probably.” 

Sadie laughs. “Okay, valid. I’d probably be the same.” Pause. “Do you only like boys?” 

Walt looks over at Sadie for a second, then back to the road. “With the way girls look? Please. I’m a simple man. Both are good.” 

“Both are good,” Sadie agrees, looking out her window. 

They arrive in front of Sadie’s building, and Walt puts the car in park, and looks over at her. “This was fun,” He reiterates. 

“Yeah, it was. You keep me out late, Mr. Stone,” Sadie jokes, rooting around in her purse for the key to get into her apartment. 

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Walt says. He doesn’t sound too apologetic. 

“I wasn’t complaining.” Sadie over assures him. It leaves a slight thickness in the air. 

The two of them sit there and Sadie fingers with her keys. “Is it weird that we’re hanging out?” 

“I mean, maybe? But it’s fun, right? Like, I’m having fun hanging out with you, and it’s kinda ... therapeutic. But like, I would totally get it if you didn’t want to see me from time to time. Like, at the end of the day, I’m a homewrecker, right?” 

Sadie elands over to place a hand on Walt’s forearm. “I promise, if anyone is a homewrecker, it’s Anubis. I can’t be mad at you because you had no idea I existed.” He gaze drops to his hands, and she tries to make out the designs that are tattooed there, but can’t make it out. 

“Okay,” Sadie straightens up, “I gotta go to bed. Let me know when you get home?” 

“Will do. Night, Sadie.” 

Sadie climbs out of the car and bends to wave goodbye, “Night, Walt. See ya round.” 

The door firmly shuts and Sadie heads into the building, and Walt doesn’t pull away until the heavy door to the building blouses behind her. 

Sadie heads upstairs and gets unready: gives Muffin fresh water and a little bit of dry food, takes off her earrings, her makeup, and changes into pyjamas. She checks and yep, she does own the same pyjamas as Jaz. 

While she's brushing her teeth, Sadie gets a text. 

_ home _

_ night sadie _

Sadie pauses her brushing to pick up the phone and respond. 

**night walt ✌🏼**

A little heart appeared as a tapback reaction to the message. Sadie smiles and sets her phone down, continuing to brush her teeth. 


	8. part eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you ever had chili while being stoned? no? you should get on that. lots of weed in this chapter

Phone propped up in her kitchen, Sadie listens as Carter talks away on Facetime about some book he’s reading while she stirs chili around. The sun has long since set, way before dinner time, courtesy of winter. 

Carter gets distracted by something, talking quietly off camera but Sadie doesn’t care. She stirs her chili. Zia says something and the TV turns on. 

“Anyways,” Carter looks back to his phone and Sadie draws her gaze there too. “How have you been, really?” 

Sadie sighs. She knew this was coming, Carter always trying to keep her from slipping away. “It’s whatever. I’m just going through the motions.” 

“Work’s been good?” 

“I guess. It’s normal, TV shows aren’t the worst.”

“That’s cool, though. How was the Bachelor?” 

Carter, much like Julius, had a certain tone he used when obviously trying to get information out about Sadie without being obvious. Of course, it just made it even more obvious. 

“Good. I ended up watching a few episodes of a scientology documentary before going home after.” 

“Oh, is Walt into weird documentaries too?” 

Sadie shrugs, “I guess. And everyone is into weird documentaries! It’s not just a me thing. You couldn’t tear your eyes away from the one about cults!” 

When Carter doesn’t reply, Sadie knows she’s won the point. “Okay, Whatever,” he mumbles, “As long as you’re having fun. And taking care of yourself.”

Sadie waves her hand. “Please. I always take care of myself. Go watch TV with your girlfriend.” 

Carter can’t help the huge grin that breaks across his face at the mention of Zia. The dweeb. “Okay, enjoy your food!” 

“See ya. Love ya.” 

“Love you too!” 

With that, Sadie hangs up the phone and inspects her chili. She tastes it, and adds a little more salt. A lid gets placed on it, and Sadie looks at her phone, and is about to text Walt again but is surprised, if not flattered, that there are already little dots indicating that he’s typing. 

Then they go away. Then they reappear. Then they go away, so Sadie starts typing. 

**wyd**

The dots go away, before they reappear. 

_ i was just about to ask you if you wanted to come over and smoke lmao  _

_ if you want _

Sadie notes the inside of her cheek. 

**i’m always down**

**do u wanna come over here n smoke ?**

**so u don’t have to pick me up**

**i’m also making chili**

_ are u sick ???  _

**ugh !!!**

**no**

_ lmaooo  _

_ yea i’ll come over  _

**cool**

**see u soon**

Sadie sends the text and then realizes, with great despair, how messy her apartment is. She hasn’t done dishes, she needs to clean out the litter box, her clothes have been sitting in a laundry basket by her couch to be folded since that morning. 

It’s go time. 

Within the next fifteen minutes, Sadie has done the dishes, emptied Muffin’s litter, and has collected her underwear and socks out of the laundry basket, and put them in their designated drawer. She hangs up a few pieces of clothes, shoves other things away, and clears off her chair of laundry. The once again full laundry basket gets shoved into her closet. 

Perfect. Guest ready. 

Sadie doesn’t make her bed, since Muffin is curled up atop of it, snoozing away. Sadie also doesn’t think Walt will care, he's seen her bathroom while she was in the middle of getting ready. 

Her door buzzes, and Sadie heads over to open it, checking herself in the mirror. She fluffs up her hair a bit, and then opens the door, smiling when Walt is on the other side. 

“Hey,” He says, and they hug, which is normal now, and Sadie enjoys it. She enjoys not going cold turkey from being around someone all the time, constantly touching someone, and these hello and goodbye hugs are definitely softening the blow. 

“Heya,” Sadie locks the door behind Walt and watches him take off his boots, jacket and scarf. 

“It smells really good in here,” Walt comments. 

“Thanks, it’s the chili. If you want to make yourself at home, you can pick an album to put on if you want.” Sadie points in the direction of her record player and the stack of records. “I’m gonna go get my stuff outta my room.”

“Oh, I brought,” Walt pulls a little bag out of his pocket. “So if you have, like, stuff.” 

Sadie states at the bag for a moment. “Oh, sick. Yeah, hang on. Lemme grab Kira.” She heads into her room and grabs the little bong from her desk, her grinder and her lighter, and heads back into the living room. Walt is sitting in front of the box of records and is flipping through them. He eventually decides on a Solange album and puts it on, coming over to sit on the couch. 

While setting the bong on the table, Sadie hands Walt the grinder and the lighter. “You want some chili?” 

“Oh, sure,” Walt says, carefully preparing for their activity, grinding up weed. 

Sadie returned with two bowls of chili, placing one on the table for Walt, with a spoon and rice in it. 

“Thanks,” Walt says, glancing over at it while he packs the bowl. “You said your bong’s name is Kira?” 

“Hell yeah,” Sadie says, plopping down next to him and pulling her knees to her chest and blowing on a spoonful of chili before eating. “So what caused you to want to come over on this fine Thursday evening to come smoke with me? It’s a school night,” Sadie teases. 

“I just wanted to hang out,” Walt says, offering Kira and lighter to Sadie, who shook her head. 

“You have first hit, it’s your weed.”

“Nah, I’m in your place.” 

He doesn’t move from his position so Sadie sighs and sets her chili bowl down, and takes the first few hits, then passes it back to Walt. 

“So whatcha been up to?” Sadie asks. “Making logos? Smoking weed? Thinking about joining scientology?” 

Walt chuckles as he exhales and hands the bong back to Sadie. “Yeah, actually. I’ve been making jewelry too, it’s really therapeutic.” 

“You make jewelry?” Sadie asks, interest piqued. 

“Yeah, it’s fun. It’s like ... Really relaxing.” 

“Can I see something you’ve made?” Sadie asks, smoke rolling out of her mouth. 

Walt nods, and takes off one of his rings, it catches for the briefest second on his knuckle, and hands it over to Sadie. He’s got one on most of his fingers, some inlaid with stones. The one he hands over is gold, and Sadie takes it carefully in her own, their fingers brushing over each other. His fingers are soft, his ring is heavy and solid and beautiful. There's a smooth onyx stone that Sadie can’t help but run her fingers over inlaid in the gold. It’s so dark it almost sucks her in. 

“This is really pretty,” She notes, handing the bong over but not the ring. Not yet. She’s still staring at it, her brian a little squinty and foggy. “This is so crazy.” 

Bubbling. Exhale. “What do you mean?” Walt asks. 

“Just, like, the fact that you  _ made  _ this. Like holy shit. Like you didn’t buy this, you like, made this. How long did it take?” 

Walt racks his brain. “I honestly don’t know. A week maybe?” 

Sadie’s jaw drops. “That’s  _ crazy _ , holy shit.” She hands the ring back, and Walt slides it back onto his finger. “That’s so cool.” 

“Thanks, Sadie,” Walt laughs, “Glad you like em. Here, this one has a lion, if you want to look?”

“Sure,” Sadie says, and sets Kira on the table, and, for the first time in a long time, ignores it, attention consumed by the little, carefully crafted piece of metal Walt places in her hands. The top of it is flat, and sure enough, there’s a lion ingrained there. 

“My mom’s a Leo,” Walt says, resting his arms across the back of the couch and tilting his body so he fully faces Sadie, back against the armrest and one of his legs bent in front of him, horizontal on the couch. 

“Damn, you are a mama's boy,” Sadie notes, not looking away from the ring. It’s smooth and textured and Sadie cannot stop running the pad of her finger over it. “What’s your star sign?” 

“I’m a Cancer,” Walt says, “You?”

“Pisces.” 

Walt hums, watching as Sadie looks at the ring. “Do you believe in it?” 

“I think it’s fun. It’s to girls what the stock market is to boys.” 

That has Walt doubled over in laughter. A smile pulls across Sadie’s face as she hands the ring back, tapping it against his bicep to get his attention. He straightened up, a smile still plastered on his face as he took the ring back. “That’s pretty funny.”

“I can tell,” Sadie says, a smile tugging at her lips. She watches through the haze closing her brain as Walt puts his ring back on. “Not to be, like, weird,” Walt raises an eyebrow, “But how many tattoos do you have?” 

“Oh, like a ton,” Walt says, and lifts the sleeve of his sweater up to show his forearm, which has an impressive and fine-lined detailing of oranges and birds, flowers and leaves, that continues up past the sleeve. He’s also got a nice watch on, and Sadie can’t help the voice in her head that sounds like her nan’s voice:  _ Sadie, don’t be interested in men if they don’t wear watches.  _ Sadie doesn’t think Walt is someone that her grandmother had in mind when he said that statement. Sadie, though, does not care.  __

Look, if Sadie had been sober, she probably would not have scooted closer to look. She also probably wouldn’t have lightly nudged his arm so he would rotate it for her so she could see more. But he does so with a soft smile, and Sadie doesn’t ask for the meaning behind any of it, instead just admires the artwork in front of her.

“That’s cool as hell,” Sadie says. She feels a little like a broken record. Everything is just  _ cool _ . She’s still looking at the tattoo. “It’s really beautiful.” 

And for a brief moment, there’s nothing more than the gap between the couch cushions between them. The air is thick, it’s laden with mixed emotions and smoke that’s slowly starting to fill the room. After a few moments, Sadie glances up at Walt, who’s watching her with an emotion she can’t read. Maybe he’s amused. 

“Thanks,” He says, but his voice is nothing more than a small whisper, slightly dry, maybe from the smoke he just inhaled and held in his lungs before exhaling. 

Time slows as Sadie moves away, sitting back up against her armrest. They stare at each other for a few moments. 

“Do you have any?” Walt asks, reaching for Kira again. Black with little gold detailing on it, small enough to hide, thick glass, Sadie’s had Kira since her freshman year of college and she loves her. 

“Any what?” Sadie asks, tilting her head to the side. 

Walt pushes the ash that’s in the bowl around with the back of the lighter. “Tattoos.” 

The lighter clicks and Walt is pulling what is probably the last of the bowl. 

“I have a few stick n pokes from when I was in high school, but nothing new. I’ve got one on my hip, it’s a bomb, because I’m the bomb.” 

Walt smiles as he exhales, “That’s cute. I totally thought you would have a lot, honestly. Do you want more? Also, where should I ash this?” 

“Oh, shit, hang on,” Sadie says, standing up and going back into her bedroom. Muffin is still sleeping on the mess of blankets, happy as a clam. Sadie retrieves her ashtray and brings it back out, setting it on the table. 

Walt’s eyes are lidded and he’s staring at nothing, just eating the bowl of chili in front of him. He barely realizes Sadie’s come back. Sadie takes a second to flip the record. She doesn’t know when it stopped playing. The previous question is gone, lost in the haze around them, and Sadie plops down on the couch, pulling a throw blanket over her lap. She packs a new bowl, and takes another hit of it, settling back in an exhaling. 

“Is it good?” Sadie asks. 

Walt nods, a little smile on his face. “Fuck yeah. Thanks, by the way.” 

“No problem,” Sadie says, taking one last hit and setting Kira back onto the table. “Hey, can we keep watching that scientology documentary?” 

Walt hums out a yes, and Sadie grabs the remote, turning on the TV and taking it with her to the kitchen, getting herself some water. 

“Hey, you want anything to drink?” She asks, hand on hip and looking over her shoulder as she fills up a glass from the fridge. 

“Uh,” Walt looks over his shoulder, using the back of his hand to cover his mouth as he spoke. “Yea, please. Can I just have water?” 

Sadie nods, and soon comes back with two glasses of water, setting them down on the table, pulling up hulu and then the documentary. The couch is comfortable, she grabs her chili and settling in is so easy. Everything is warm


	9. part nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> its 3am. enjoy a little of walt's pov

Hulu has been wanting to know if the two young adults sprawled out on Sadie’s couch are still watching for the past thirty minutes. A wash of blue falls over the two of them, Sadie completely curled up against the arm rest, holding a throw pillow to her chest and fast asleep. The haze lifts from Walt as he slowly wakes up from his half-sleep, and takes in his surroundings. 

“Aw, shit,” Walt whispers, checking the time on his phone. It’s almost three. There are five missed calls from Jaz, as well as a slew of texts, asking if he had been murdered. 

He sends a quick text back to let her know he was still alive, before trying to figure out what the best course of action was. Never in his life did Walt think he would be waking up on his ex’s ex’s couch that Walt had met through realizing  _ he _ had been the side chick. Thank god for SZA. 

Life is very strange. 

Life is strange and every muscle in Walt’s body aches. The weed is still working its way out of him, urging him to just sink back in the couch, but it's almost three in the morning, Walt  _ has _ to get home. Slowly, he stands up from the couch, and picks up both the empty bowls that are on the coffee table, only to be interrupted by a sleepy voice. 

“Nu?” Sadie asks, her eyes not even open and hadn’t moved from her little ball on the couch. Her voice is sleep ridden, dragging its feet into consciousness

Walt  _ has _ to get home. This is bad. 

“Uh, no. Sorry.” The words roll off Walt’s tongue, heavy and rouch, as if they don’t belong there. 

Sadie opens her eyes, bluer from the TV. “Oh, fuck.” She rubs a hand over her face, and then looks at her hand. Mascara’s been moved to rest below her lower lashline. “Shit. Fuck. What time is it?” 

“It’s almost three,” Walt says softly, “I was gonna go home.” 

Sadie squints at him, still trying to catch her bearings. She coughs into the crook of her elbow before looking back at Walt. A well manicured hand with long black nails comes up to rub at the shell of her ear. “Are you sober?” 

“Enough,” Walt whispers. 

“Bullshit, you want to sleep here again?” Sadie speaks as she pulls off one of her eyelashes, examining the band, before moving onto the other. 

Walt weighs his options. Honestly? It’s better than driving home. It’s cold out, it’s dark. Black ice exists. “If you’re cool with me crashing here again.” 

“Better than you dying on the roads.” Sadie stands up and stretches, lightly scratching the inner corner of her eye. “Can you put those in the sink? Let me go grab some pillows.” 

“Sure,” Walt says, and takes the dishes over to the sink. He fills them with warm water and adds a little bit of dish soap so they can soak. Sadie comes back out of her room after a few moments with her cat trailing behind her, starting to meow quietly. 

“I hear you, Muffin, I’ll get your food in a moment,” Sadie says. She sets the pillows and sheets on the couch. “Help me move the coffee table?” 

“Yeah, I can do this if you want to go take off your makeup,” Walt offers, coming over and easily moving the table over so it was by the TV, giving enough room for the couch to unfold. 

Sadie looks at him skeptically, starting to remove the cushions from the couch, before sighing. “Do you just want to sleep in my bed? I’m too- I’m too high and tired to do this.” 

The two of them stare at each other for a long time and it was probably good that Walt had agreed to not drive, since there was definitely still a buzz going through his head. He figured that this was probably not the smartest decision in his life, but, it was platonic, it was fine, Sadie was offering. 

“Sure, if you’re cool with that.” 

“Wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t.” Sleep lingers in Sadie’s voice, she’s walking that fine line between consciousness and dreaming. She places a bit of dry food into Muffin’s food bowl before grabbing the pillows and heading back into her room, setting them on the bed. Realizing Walt wasn’t on her heels, Sadie called over her shoulder. “You coming, Walt?” 

“Oh, shit, yes,” Walt says, quickly turning the lights off and following Sadie into her room. 

The only light was her lamp on her bedside table, which had a few Diet Coke and beer cans littered on it, as well as an ashtray and her Switch. Like Sadie had claimed earlier, there was a drum set up against the wall, under a window, as well as a desk filled with clutter. Poorly, fatigued, Sadie straightens out the sheets on her bed and evenly distributes the pillows.

“Here’s some stuff for you to sleep in,” She says, setting out a pair of sweatpants and another oversized, soft band tee. “I’m gonna go take off my makeup and brush my teeth, just knock before you come in, I still have the toothbrush I gave you last time.” 

And with that, Sadie heads off to her bathroom. 

Walt stares at the clothes laid out on the bed and changes, and takes a quick second to text Jaz and let her know that he’s crashing at Sadie’s again. It won’t get read until the morning, maybe in a few hours, Walt doesn’t remember her schedule. Walt then heads back out to go to the bathroom, knocking on the door. There’s some rustling and the door swings, open, Sadie brushing her teeth. 

“Come on in.” She stands closer to the counter to let Walt squeeze in behind her. 

The two of them get ready for bed in silence. Walt brushes his teeth, and Sadie applies moisturizer, offering some to Walt, who accepts. It feels very normal, it feels oddly domestic, it feels like they’ve done this before. 

Which they haven’t. If anything, it’s probably the shadow Anubis has over the foundation of their relationship. 

They head back to bed at the same time, and oh, Sadie’s bed is  _ soft _ . It’s got one of those nice mattress toppers and soft sheets. Walt settles into bed and before he can say anything, Sadie is already asleep. He turns out the light, and can hear Muffin’s pitter patter of feet as she comes in the room, jumps up on the bed, and curls up next to Sadie. 

When Walt closes his eyes, he takes a deep breath, realizes that these aren’t spare pillows he’s sleeping on, and falls fast asleep. 


	10. part ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> there's an unexpected (yet expected) phone call. more walt pov

Walt wakes up with the feeling of someone else’s legs over his own. There’s faint sunlight streaming in, and the room is warm and inviting. There’s a soft purring sound, the bed is so  _ so _ soft, the comforter is cool and Walt doesn’t want to move. And then he realizes what’s woken him up. 

At first, Walt thinks it’s his phone. But when he checks it, all he sees is the time. 8:32am. Muffin is still purring away. Sadie’s legs are sprawled out over his. 

Oh. Walt slowly sits up, and the buzzing stops. Sadie is starfished out across the bed, arms above her head, legs over Walt’s, not stirring at all. The buzzing starts again. On the nightstand nearest to Sadie, her phone is lighting up. Out of curiosity, Walt looks over to see what it is, mainly just to make sure Sadie wasn’t sleeping through an alarm. 

It’s Anubis. The call ends and Sadie’s screen lights up, with a slew of notifications. 

**Missed Call: Anubis (10)**

**carter 🐓: Do you want to meet me and Z...**

**Twitter: @HYPLAND: RESTOCK ON 1/12 ALL BL...**

**Uncle Amos: Hey there! Do you want to c...**

Then the phone starts ringing again, and Anubis’s contact lights up the screen.  _ Yikes _ , Walt thinks to himself, and slowly settles back down into the bed. Muffin wakes up, looking around and then comes over to Walt, pawing at his chest. Walt brings a cautious hand up and lets Muffin sniff it, before she starts purring and lets him pet her head-- just her head. Anything lower and she tries to bite him. The spot behind her ears is on thin ice. She seems to enjoy it, but not trust Walt all the way. 

The third time Sadie’s phone buzzes, without moving the rest of her body, Sadie grabs her phone and answers it. It’s as if this is a normal occurrence, something she’s gotten into the habit of doing. Eyes shut, one arm still above her head, she still hasn’t moved her leg off of Walt’s. 

“The actual  _ fuck _ do you want.” 

The tone of Sadie’s voice puts the fear of god in Walt, and he’s surprised he can hear Anubis continuing to talk on the other end, that their ex didn’t just hang up after hearing Sadie’s tone. Walt can’t make out any of the words, though. 

“If you call me again before noon or after eight, I’m going to file a restraining order against you.” 

Anubis talks some more. Sadie lets him almost finish before plowing on with her scolding. 

“I’m not fucking around. If I wake up one more goddamn time to sound of your fucking voice I’m going to come over there and make it so you can never fucking call me again.” She pauses, listening to Anubis. “So, what does it matter? I’ll tell my dad you won’t leave me alone. I’ll sic Zia on you. You think Carter wants to hear from you, you think my older brother doesn’t want to bash your fucking face in, Anubis? I told you, unless you want to talk about me adopting your fucking dog, don’t call me. Goodbye.” 

She hangs up the phone and places it back on her nightstand. 

“Damn,” Walt says softly. 

Sadie hums in agreement. “Sorry about that. It’s been happening almost every morning.” 

“Why don’t you block his number?” Walt asks. 

Sadie sighs. She moves her legs off of Walt’s and rolls onto her side, scratching Muffin, her fingers going into soft fur, soft fat. Sadie looks upset, she looks angry. But most of all, she looks sad. Her hair is messy, her shirt is askew, and Muffin purrs so loud for her, as if the rumbling can soothe the heartache.

“I’m hoping that one of these times he’s going to call and I’m not going to be mad,” Sadie admits, her voice hushed. “But I’m  _ so _ hurt.” She pauses and looks up at Walt. There’s a little bit of eyelash glue hanging on by her lashine. “I’m not mad at you, though. I can’t find it in myself to be mad at you. And anyways, you’re cool. I like spending time with you.” 

A smile tugs at Walt’s lips. “I like spending time with you, too. Thanks for letting me crash here, by the way.” 

“It’s no biggie. Anyways, it’s nice to have someone in bed next to me.” Sleep makes Sadie’s thoughts lucid and her consciousness streams out of her mouth. “I wish Zia wasn’t in town for once, because then I’d just stay at Carter’s.” 

Walt racks his brain. “Carter’s your brother,” He says, “Zia is his ... Girlfriend?” 

“Yeah, that’s it.” 

“You guys seem close.” 

“We’re as close as we can be.”

Walt wants to learn more, wants to ask, but he decides that right now, it’s not his place. So instead, he keeps petting Muffin’s head. Sadie sighs, and stops petting Muffin to stretch, only getting an annoyed glare from her cat. 

“Alright,” Sadie looks at her phone and responds to a text. “I’m going to get up in a second and go make breakfast. I’m just gonna make some toast. You want some?” 

“I should get out of your hair,” Walt deflects, still slowly petting Muffin’s head. 

“Mhm, if you want to,” Sadie says, still texting as she climbs out of bed. There’s a moment where she pauses, glances over at Walt. “Not that you have to leave. I have no problem with you staying.” Her attention turns back to her phone, as Sadie heads into the kitchen. “I’ll make you some toast.”

Walt sighed and laid back in the bed for a moment, not quite wanting to move Muffin off of him. Muffin gave him no choice, however, as she bolts once she hears the crack of her food can. Walt swings his legs out of bed, and heads into the kitchen. Sadie is covering Muffin’s food with tinfoil, placing it in the fridge, as the cat happily gobbles up her breakfast from where it’s laid out in a little bowl on the floor. 

It makes Walt’s stomach flip a little. He pins that feeling and their morning conversation far back in his mind, and eats toast and drinks coffee at Sadie’s kitchen counter with her. 

Thirty minutes later he’s out the door, dressed in the day before clothes, not wanting to steal any more of Sadie’s clothes. The two hug goodbye for a split second longer than they did when he arrived last night. As he’s pulling out of his parking spot, heat blasting, somewhere in his subconsciousness he realizes that his watch is on Sadie’s nightstand. 


	11. part eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sadie and carter are best friends forever.

Sadie doesn’t see Walt for a week, and she barely hears from him too. There are a few texts here and there, but he’s swamped with work. She still has his watch, which Walt claims he’ll come get later. There’s always a slew of calls from Anubis, only they’re starting to slow down. They only happen after noon, and before five pm. It hurts in a way that Sadie cannot even begin to describe. It feels like he’s slipping out of her hands, even though she let go first. Molasses dripping, falling onto the floor in fat, slow drops. 

So, Sadie distracts herself. She works, she lays on Carter’s couch and listens to him read his dissertation out loud while he proofreads it. She stumbles over riffs with Amos, she even breaks one of her bass strings. She’s distracted, albeit not enough, but it works. 

Being alone hurts. It digs its way up under Sadie’s nails. Sadie is back at Carter’s apartment, sitting on the loveseat. The TV is playing some documentary about the Grand Canyon. Carter seems to be interested in it, but Sadie is barely paying attention, instead focusing on the rhythmic over-side-over of braiding Carter’s hair. A few strands get caught under her acrylics, confirming it’s time to get them done. 

On the coffee table, her phone buzzes. Carter’s eyes snap over to follow the noise, and he doesn’t move his head. 

“You want me to get that for you?” He asks, already reaching for the phone. 

“Sure,” Sadie says, and perhaps she purposefully tugs on his hair a little bit. Carter throws a hand back to mindlessly swat at her, but misses by a long shot. 

“Walt wants to know if you’re doing anything tonight,” Carter says. There’s a teasing lilt that sticks to the underbelly of his statement. “Do you want me to respond?” 

“Yeah.” Sadie finishes off a braid and starts on the next one. “Just tell him I’m doing your hair right now. And ask why. But make it sound like me.” 

Carter raises the phone so its eye level and he doesn’t have to bend his head over. Sadie shifts behind him, pulling a knee up under her and sitting on it. 

“How does this look?” Carter shows the text to Sadie, who pauses her braiding to read it. 

**im braiding carter’s hair right now why?**

“That looks good, you can send it,” Sadie approves of the text, and there’s a little woosh to signify that it’s been sent off. 

There’s a little sound as a message gets sent back. Carter gasps. “Sadie, what are you doing?” 

“What do you mean ‘what am I doing?’ I’m braiding your hair, dumbass.” 

“No, what are you doing with  _ Walt _ and why is he inviting you to go ice skating with him?” Carter tilts his head back to try and look his sister in the eyes, which Sadie  _ tsks _ at, pointedly ignores, moving the braid so she can keep going even though Carter’s moved his head. 

“I’m hanging out with him, I’m allowed to hang out--” She’s interrupted by another text coming through. 

Instantly, Sadie reaches to try and grab the phone, but Carter holds it out of reach, off to the right side. Sadie’s desperate attempt to keep her spot in the braid lessens her ability to snatch her phone back from Carter, who is already reading the next text, a huge grin pulling across his face. 

“Why’s his watch at your place, Sadie? Hm? Why’s it there?” Carter’s voice is light and teasing, ribbing at his sister. 

“ _ Because _ he spent the night and left it on accident and I haven’t been able to see him since, you fool,” Sadie shakes her head and pushes Carter’s head forwards so she can get better access to the braid. 

All Carter does is laugh. “Would you like me to accept?” Carter makes his voice airy and starts typing, reading loud as he goes, “Oh, I would be so very flattered to go ice skating with you later! It would make my dreams come true.’” 

“Do  _ not _ send that,” Sadie hisses, “I’ll reply to it later.” 

Carter laughs and Sadie releases the braid midway, and reaches, trying to grab her phone back, while Carter holds it out of her reach. Leaning too far over, Sadie’s fingers reach Carter’s wrist before she topples over and takes Carter to the ground with her. Their heads painfully knock together and Sadie’s stomach sinks completely out of her body at the little, familiar, all too innocent  _ woosh _ of a sent message chimes out of her phone. 

The world seems to slow down as Sadie and Carter stare at Sadie’s phone. 

**I would be so very flattered to go ice skating with you later! It would make my dreams come true! right awe qoief**

Sadie quickly grabs the phone and glares at Carter. “What did you do that for!” 

“I didn’t think you were going to  _ tackle _ me!” Carter whines, rubbing at his forehead where he bonked Sadie. His tone softens as soon as he sees how annoyed Sadie is. “I wasn’t actually going to send it, I was just being annoying.” 

Sadie shakes her head and quickly types out another message. 

**omg BYE sorry i had carter texting for me he is fired from that job**

**but ice skating would be rly fun !**

_ lmao  _

_ if ur busy tonight, we can go some other time. im free all weekend  _

**what time did you want to go?**

_ 6 sound good to you? we can get waffle house after or something _

_ i can pick you up of course _

Sadie bites the inside of her cheek while she thinks it over. After a glance at Carter’s hair and a quick assessment at how long it’ll take, and factors in the fact that she has to get ready, then checks the time before looking back at her phone. 

**make it 6:30 ?**

_ no problem  _

_ ill make sure to run a few minutes late _

Sadie’s face heats up a bit and she’s  _ very _ happy she decided to put on foundation before leaving the house that day. She climbs back up in the chair, and Carter sits back up, still rubbing his head. 

**how thotful see u l8r ✌️**

With that, Sadie set her phone back on the table and went back to braiding, carefully restarting the braid that had been interrupted by Carter acting a damn fool. The two of them settle in a comfortable silence, while a British narrator drones on about the different types of rocks at the Grand Canyon. 

Eventually, as Sadie is nearing the last few sections, Carter speaks. 

“Is Anubis still calling you?” It’s a cautious tone, treading carefully onto thin ice. 

Sadie shrugs. “Not as often. I hear after noon until five, and then he stops. He’s not waking me up anymore, calling at the ass crack of dawn.” 

Carter is quiet for a second before he hums. “Why don’t you block his number, then?” 

“Ugh, Walt asked me that exact same thing. Maybe I just like to be stupid in private, hm? Thought about that?” Sadie huffs, snapping in irritation at the fact that deep down she  _ knew _ the two of them were right. She should block his number. 

For her credit though, Sadie keeps a steady pace with the braiding. She needs to get home and start getting ready, she needs to take shower. Sadie takes a deep, grounding breath, and decides that her therapist would be proud. 

“I know I should block him ...” Sadie trails off, and finishes the braid, starting on the next. 

“But?” Carter encourages. 

Sadie sighs. “I guess I’m not ready. I just wish it hadn’t happened, you know.” 

“But you seem to be enjoying knowing Walt, now,” Carter observes. That’s all it is. A simple observation. 

“He’s a friend.” 

“Cool.” 

“That’s all.” 

“Okay.” 

“I’m being serious, Carter.”

“I’m not doubting you. Is there something in my tone that makes you feel like I’m doubting you?”

Sadie frowns at that. Deep down, she knows that she’s doubting herself. 

Soon, Carter’s hair is finished, has him looking Brand New, and it was apparent in that ridiculous ego boost men always got after a haircut. He stares at himself through the black of the TV screen, suddenly becomes the most popular person on Snapchat, and sprawls out across the couch adjacent to Sadie, like he was one of the Pharaohs of old that he was writing his dissertation on. (Please do not ask Sadie for any details, she finds it impossible to focus on it after the first three minutes of Carter reading it aloud.)

Once the documentary is over, Carter looks over to his sister. “You want a ride home?” 

Sadie shakes her head, already on her phone, “I was just going to get an Uber back. I still have Dad’s credit card hooked up to it.” 

Carter sighes. “Sadie, you’re like ... Twenty one. Don’t you think it’s time to actually just learn how to drive?” 

“No, why would I do that? I have the bus too. It’s just cold out right now. And anyways, Dave is going to be here in two minutes. Easy peasy.” Sadie flips her phone around to show Carter her screen, briefly, before locking it and placing it in her lap. 

“Okay, whatever. What are you going to do when you inevitably get cut off?” 

“Why are we talking about this?”

“Because I’m your older brother, and I worry about you, dingus.” 

Sadie rolls her eyes so hard, they run the risk of getting stuck. She lets out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know, I make money, I’ll figure it out!” She places her arm on the armrest and lets her chin rest in the palm of her hand. Defeated, Sadie pouts and while facing Carter, doesn’t make eye contact with him. She doesn’t focus on anything while she speaks. “I  _ was _ just planning on getting married and just calling it a day. But that’s no longer an option, and apparently, it never was going to be one. So. I’ll figure something else out.” 

Carter’s eyes go soft. “Sadie, you know, do you think it’s a good--” 

He’s cut off by Sadie’s phone buzzing and her gaze quickly shifting to it. “Oh! I gotta dash. Dave is here, he’s in a black subaru. How fancy. What were you saying, again?” Sadie asks, standing up and heading to the door to bundle back up. 

Movement languid, Carter slowly follows his sister to the door. “Just if you think it's really a good idea if you’re hanging out with the guy who ruined your life plan.” 

Sadie buttons up her jacket while she speaks. “Well, he’s sweet. And he’s cute, which doesn’t hurt. He smoked me out the other day, and I don’t really have anything else going on in my life. When you aren’t committed to the academic trail, you have to create your own entertainment. A lot of it, too.” She opens the door, cool air floating in, invading the warmth inside. 

“Whatever, I guess I’m glad you’re having a good time. If you need anything, I’m just a phone call away.” 

“I know,” Sadie says, standing on the stoop. She glances back at the Uber before back to Carter. 

“Even if it involves punching exes.” 

Sadie rolls her eyes. “I don’t need you to punch any exes of mine. I can do that just fine.” Sadie wraps her arms around Carter in a quick hug, giving him a squeeze. “I’ll see you later, I’ll share my drive. All that! Love you! Give Zia my love!” 

“Love you too, don’t do anything super stupid!” Carter calls after his sister, who’s already halfway to the car. She flashes him a thumbs up, checks the license plate before hopping in the car. Carter doesn’t close the door once the car has pulled away, and soon has a few texts from Sadie. 

**88-943: Sadie Kane has shared her Uber trip with you. Follow along by clicking this link -- > **

**Sadie: You think we’ll ever know the peace of not getting mistaken for a couple? :p k i l l m e**

Carter laughs, and opens Sadie’s Uber trip up to make sure she gets home safe while he stares at himself in the mirror until Zia comes home from the gym. 


	12. part twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> iggy's igloo has it all: alliteration, a date-that-not-a-date, and tinny speakers playing ariana grande

So, maybe Sadie spends much more time and effort on getting dressed. Maybe she upends most of her closet onto her bed, maybe she tries on countless outfits, maybe she sends pictures of every one to the group snapchat, waiting for each rating. 

Eventually, she settles on black jeans and a turtleneck with an oversized shirt, with silver jewelry and thick socks. Muffin gets fed, pacing around Sadie’s feet the entire time. Rock music is playing off of Sadie’s phone in her pocket, muffled yet loud all at the same time. 

It’s interrupted by a text. 

_ hey i’m here!  _

_ take your time though! _

Sadie wastes no time in responding. 

**ill b rite down let me get shoes i just finished feeding muffin 🧁**

Walt responds with a little thumbs up tapback, and Sadie pauses her music to finish the last few steps. She double checks that she had everything in her purse: wallet, with all the cards there, and a polaroid of her, Carter and Zia on their way to go celebrate Eid with Zia’s family. Her emergency bag was there too: tampons and ibuprofen, extra bus tickets, lipgloss and lip balm. 

Lipgloss. Sadie doubles back to her bathroom to find the one she wanted to wear, and maybe finalized her decision between the countless, almost the same ones, is that this one in the squeeze tube tasted like vanilla and cherries. Just in case Sadie ate any of it. She also gives herself a spray of perfume in her hair. Just so Sadie can smell it. 

Sadie pops it into her purse, double checks her appearance, before pulling on her boots, grabbing her keys and heading out. Right before she locks the door, she opens it, runs in to give Muffin a few goodbye scratches, turns the TV onto National Geographic, and then leaves. She does up all the locks on her door, straightens out the welcome mat in front of the door, and then heads down. 

Giving a little wave to the security guard that’s actually working that night, Sadie shoves her hands deep into her pockets and uses her shoulder to open the front door. Walt is waiting out front for her, and she quickly slides into his passenger seat. 

“Hey,” Sadie says, setting her bag at her feet and buckling up. 

“Hey,” Walt says, sounding a little amused as he put the car in drive. “How you doin?” 

“Good,” Sadie says, smiling and relaxing back into the seat. “How are you doing?” 

“Good. So, you excited to go ice skating?”

“Yep. You know how to ice skate, right?” 

“I’ve spent a few years on the ice, back in my youth.” 

“You sound old,” Sadie frowns, but it breaks into a smile right after Walt grins. “It’s true!” Sadie can’t help the way her smile works her way into her voice. “Back in your youth, that’s something an old man would say.” 

“Okay, well, it was when I was younger. I spent maybe two years playing ice hockey. You know how to ice skate?” 

“I wouldn’t have suggested to go if I didn’t know,” Sadie points out, “Don’t want to be caught being an absolute fool in public.”

“But in private?” 

“Different story entirely,” Sadie smiles. 

Walt grins and nods. “I respect that.” 

Sadie notices that the songs playing are all songs she’s played before, but chooses not to say anything. Instead, she settles for smiling a little bit to herself and looking out the window. Sadie stares in part at the scenery passing by and spying on a few drivers, and part glancing at herself in the reflection. 

The ice rink is called Iggy’s Igloo, and Sadie recognizes it well. It’s on the way from Anubis’s place to their favorite Indian restaurant, with its gaudy neon lights that drew Sadie in and mesmerized her as they passed it. The neon lights, however, seemed to have just deetered Anubis even more. He would always say it reminded him of somewhere a lot of children would be at, and just be very insistent that he would never go with her. 

So the fact that Walt had agreed to go with Sadie made her chest swell a little too tight. She realized, maybe this meant Anubis hadn’t wanted to go with Walt maybe he --

“You think Anubis couldn’t ice skate?” Walt asks as he puts the car in park. “Like, that’s why he refused to go with us?” 

Sadie stared at Walt like he had just grown two heads. “You would  _ not _ believe what I was just thinking.” 

“That he couldn’t ice skate?” 

“Exactly.” 

Walt laughs at that, unbuckling his seatbelt. He looks gorgeous in the car light, which Sadie realizes and promptly igores. They get out of the car, and head towards the rink, arms brushing together every few steps on accident. In Sadie’s defense, it was cold and windy. Sometimes her body didn’t like functioning properly when it’s this cold out. 

She almost is able to pull her hand out of her pocket to get the door, but Walt sped up just a little to grab it first. Sadie fixed him with a look, sized him up, and then started to get the next one. It had opened an inch, when Walt grabbed it instead. For a split second, their hands brushed against each other. Walt’s hands were surprisingly warm, compared to Sadie’s constantly freezing ones. 

“You know, I can get doors myself. God did give me two hands for a reason,” Sadie says as she walks in, hands back in her pockets. 

“Well, He gave me two too. And anyways, it’s like a Thing,” Walt shrugs. 

“A  _ thing _ ?” 

“I mean, yeah. You know. It’s polite.” Now Walt is looking at Sadie like she’s grown two heads, before shaking his head. “C’mon, lets go get shoes and stuff.” Walt walks ahead of her, and Sadie takes a minute before catching up with him. 

The check in process is easy. The check in woman is named Wendy, and she couldn’t have been more than sixteen. She seems bored, but is more than happy to chatter happily along with Walt in some small talk. It’s cold, it’s snowy, Walt wears a size 13 and Sadie wears a size 7. Walt even pays, which Sadie thanks him for as he inserts his card. 

“Yeah, no problem,” Walt says, giving Sadie a smile. 

They lace up their skates and put their shoes, coats and Sadie’s bag in their assigned cubby. Sadie roots around in her purse for a discarded gum wrapper to spit her gum in and throws it away quickly. 

“Don’t wanna choke?” Walt asks, amusement leaking into his question. 

“I’m responsible occasionally.” Sadie pauses, and then reinforces. “ _ Occasionally _ .” 

Walt chuckles at that, and Sadie decides in that moment it is a very nice sound. She takes that thought as her cue to head on over to the rink, and narrowly avoids running into a woman with a plate of nachos with bad, ashy and chunky highlights on heat-fried hair. Sadie apologizes, and the woman only gives her a glare, before continuing on her way. 

“Wonder what crawled up into her ass and died,” Sadie mumbles as she steps onto the rink.

Walt hums, and watches as the woman walks away for a few seconds before back to Sadie. “With a haircut like that? I think we know.” 

Sadie laughs at that and pushes herself off of the wall. She hasn’t been ice skating in forever, not since she was a teenager and still living with her grandparents. Part of Liz’s Epic Eighteen Birthday Extravaganza (poor thing is a Sagittarius, you’ll have to excuse the dramatics) had been ice skating, and since then, Sadie hadn’t gone. Which was a shame, since ice skating had been a huge part of her high school experience. Nothing competitive, but there  _ was _ that cute boy who worked there, with dark skin and bleached hair with an eyebrow piercing and gauges who snuck them large popcorns when they had just ordered smalls. 

Nonetheless, that most certainly did not matter right now. 

Sadie held out her hand for Walt to take, which he looked at with a raised eyebrow as he stepped onto the ice and slowly got his bearings. He did, however, take her hand, exchanging his grip on the wall for it. 

“When was the last time you went ice skating?” Sadie asks. The softness of her own voice surprises her, and Sadie offers her other hand for Walt to take, which he does. Her stomach feels like thousands of butterflies are emerging from their chrysalises. 

“Last time I placed ice hockey,” Walt admits. 

“That wasn’t an answer.” 

“Like, eighth grade,” Walt admits. Poor thing looks  _ embarrassed _ . 

“And here we were, dragging Nu for not being able to ice skate.” 

“Please, at least I’m standing.” 

Sadie worries for a brief moment that she’s smiling so much she’ll end up with premature wrinkles. However, she can’t stop. Walt seems to have adjusted to being on the ice, and it’s steadying to have someone else to hold onto. The music playing borders on Christmas Pop, featuring all the artists but none of their Christmas music. But still be too far away to officially switch over, Sadie decides. 

“Alright,” Sadie says, and slowly starts moving backwards. It’s harder than she remembered, maybe she really should work out more than carrying 24 packs of Dr. Pepper up to her apartment from the grocery store every week. Pushing against the ice works the insides of her thighs in a way that they  _ hate _ . “Are you gonna be okay if I turn around so I can face forwards?” 

Walt nods, and Sadie slips her left hand out of his, and the two slowly make their way around the perimeter of the rink to acquaint themselves with being back on the ice. Ariana Grande sings about how she has no tears left to cry, and while Sadie doesn’t completely agree with her, she is more than happy to savor the ice rink: the sound of metal against ice, the laughter, the smell of cheap food and how warm Walt’s hand is in hers. 

  
  



	13. part thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> nothing unlucky about this part. parked car convos >

Sadie honestly cannot remember the last time she was this happy. There’s a chocolate chip waffle and a Sprite in her stomach that she didn’t have to pay for, and Walt is taking her the long way home, since she had never seen his Apocalypse House. 

The Apocalypse House is a little shed that was tucked away off the main road, overgrown and horribly looked after. It was dark out, so Sadie couldn’t see much of it. 

“I mean, I just assume that no one lives there. So if the zombie apocalypse  _ did _ happen, that’s where I would go. And, if someone does live there, I figure the zombies wouldn’t have gotten them, because you definitely need some survival skills to live there,” Walt explains. He’s hunched over a bit, so he can look at the house with Sadie as they slow down by it. 

“You’ve thought a lot about this,” Sadie notes, turning back to Walt once they’re past it. 

“I like to be prepared,” Walt shrugs. “You never know when the zombies are going to come.” 

“You watch a lot of the Walking Dead?” 

“No, I hate zombie stuff. It’s why I have to be prepared.” 

Sadie laughs at that, shaking her head. “Holy shit, that’s ...” She trails off, trying to figure out where that sentence was supposed to go. Cute? Paranoid? Silly? 

“You can say it, I know I’m a genius.” 

“That is  _ not _ what I was going to say, but I will say that I agree with you,” Sadie says, “Zombies are horribly overdone.” For her credit, she does not mention how Anubis loves zombie movies, but Sadie feels like they’re both thinking the same thing. 

Funky bass riffs fill the space between them, and Sadie glances over at Walt’s rings where they glint in the streetlights as he drives. She also takes a second to look at his side profile, and frowns slightly. 

“Have you always had two piercings in this ear?” She asks, pointing. 

Walt raises a hand to touch his ear, as if having forgotten that there were two holes there, each filled with a diamond stud. 

“Oh, no, I got bored the other day and I asked Jaz to do it.” His hand drops to the gear shift, and then to his thigh, and then back to the steering wheel, as if he doesn’t know what to do with it. 

“So she just what, Parent Trap’ed it? Lemon and needle?” 

“Flickering lights and all,” Walt agrees, nodding seriously, before he smiles and looks over at Sadie briefly, then back to the road. 

“Huh.” Sadie sits back in her seat with a newfound respect. “I never thought you’d do something like that.” 

“What does  _ that _ mean?” Walt asks, frowning but not a drop of annoyance in his voice. 

“Nothing  _ bad _ , I just never took you to be someone who would pierce their ears in their bathroom, you know?” 

“Sadie, I’m literally covered in tattoos. Getting my friend to pierce my ear for me is nothing horrible.” 

Sadie wants to say that Walt does  _ not _ need to remind her that he’s covered in tattoos, she has that tidbit placed on a shelf for later, thank you very much. “You just don’t seem super impulsive like that. I would have thought you’d go somewhere to get it done. But, anyways, was it bad?” 

“Nah, nothing too bad. And it’s healing, which was what I was really worried about. I had it done a while ago, but it wouldn’t heal, but now it is. Everything works out for a reason.” 

“It’s cool, I dig it,” Sadie says, and decides it’s polite to ignore how Walt’s smile grows. 

Walt pulls into Sadie’s apartment complex and parks, and looks over at her in the yellow street light. It casts odd shadows in the car, which rumbles softly as it idles. Sadie collects her things, unbuckles her seatbelt and looks at Walt. 

“Thanks for tonight, it was really fun. I’ll have to get you back sometime,” Sadie says, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She can feel her earrings against her neck, and tilts her head just a little so she can feel them move. 

It takes a second before Walt responds. “It’s really no problem, my treat. I’m glad you had a good time cause I did too.”

“Well, I think we should do it again sometime. We don’t have to go ice skating again, but maybe there’s something else, you know? Or you can just come over and I can beat you at Mario Kart or something.” 

Walt laughs at that, “Okay, whatever you say. Who knows, maybe I’ll practice. Watch some walk-throughs.” 

Sadie rolls her eyes and a fond smile works its way across her face. “I appreciate the competitiveness, Stone.”

Walt clicks his tongue and winks at Sadie, matching her smile. “Look, Corbin Bleu told me to get my head in the game and since then, my head has always been in the game. Sorry if it’s not the same for you.” 

“Did you just make a High School Musical reference?” 

“Yeah. I can do the basketball breakdown thing.” 

Sadie blinks at Walt. “You might be nerdier than my brother.” 

Walt smiles. “Is that bad?” 

“No.” Sadie sighs. “Just means I only know nerds.”

“I know that can’t be true. I  _ know _ that can’t be true.” Walt leans back and settles a bit against the door, angling his body more towards Sadie. 

“How do you  _ know _ that? What makes you so sure?” 

“Because, from what I can tell in this short period of knowing you, you definitely hang out with people other than nerds. Which, if I might add myself, includes me.” 

“You’re not a nerd?”

“I wouldn’t classify myself as one, no.”

Sadie raises an eyebrow at Walt. He raises one back. Sadie shakes her head, “Okay, whatever. You’ll just have to show me your little basketball dance sometime.” She wiggles her fingers in a flippant manner in Walt’s direction as she brings up his little dance. 

“Deal,” Walt says, smiling wide. 

“Oh, see, you’re a nerd, look how excited you are to show it to me,” Sadie teases.

“Hey, don’t pin this all on me,” Walt says, raising both of his hands. “You told me you wanted to see it.” 

“The two can both be true at the same time,” Sadie points out, and then sighs. “Alright, I should head up. Don’t wanna keep Muffin waiting too long, you know.” 

“I get it.” Sadie opens up the door. “Oh, also, are you coming over for the Bachelor on Tuesday?” 

Sadie takes a moment to contain the smile on her face, not wanting to appear too excited. A normal amount of excitement. However, Sadie doesn’t know how well she dims her smile, and given the amused look on Walt’s face, she doesn’t do a good job of hiding it. 

“Yeah, I’d love to.” 

“Cool, I’ll text you later about it.” 

“Mhm. Alright, I’ll see you later, drive safe,” Sadie says, getting out of the car. She bends down before shutting the door. “Text me when you get home.” 

“Yes ma’am,” Walt says with a smile. 

Sadie smiles and closes the door, heading into her apartment. Walt doesn’t drive away until the door shuts behind her.


	14. part fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's tuesday, so the bachelor is on

The only sounds in Walt’s apartment was the soft clacking of the keyboard under his fingers and the soft, soothing music coming off of Sadie’s Switch. Every once in a while, there was a wash of water, or a triumphant sound, or a little bit of soft, nonsensical talking. It was easy to tune in and out of. 

Earlier, Sadie had asked if she could come over. Her day had long since been over, and Muffin was mad at Sadie since that afternoon Sadie had wrangled her cat in a towel and filed her claws down since they were getting long. 

Walt had replied to the frantic voice message with a simple text, ‘I’m working from home today but sure. I would have said yes even if you didn’t have the wild story.’ Which Sadie has  _ not _ been thinking about since she received it two hours ago. And, anyways, Sadie would have have been coming over anyways. The Bachelor was on tonight. 

After catching  _ another _ sea bass, Sadie puts her game down as quietly as she can with the frustration she feels towards the most peaceful thing in her life. She gets up and walks over to where Walt was sitting, at the small, square table in the kitchen that clearly was a catch-all table. There’s mail, a few forms that Walt would glance at occasionally, a puzzle box with a few romance paperback books and a napkin holder. 

Sadie sits down across from Walt, who simply glances up when the chair screeches as it is pulled out before going back to his work. An email chime plays off his computer, and the long blink that Walt gave was a wonderful indicator at how his day was going. 

“How’s it goin?” Sadie asks, raising her eyebrows and leaning forwards in a way that is almost peeking at Walt’s computer but not quite. He makes no move to close the screen, which Sadie takes as a win. 

In the reflection of Walt’s glasses, Sadie can see the email he seems to be drafting up, which appears to have a good couple of paragraphs. The two of them make eye contact and Sadie hopes Walt breaks it first because she doesn’t know if she can. 

“Bad?” Sadie supplies. 

“Just annoying.” 

“It’s after five,” Sadie notes, pointing at the oven clock. 5:02. 

Walt glances down at his computer. “Damn. It is. I’ve been seeing that number everywhere. Okay, let me finish up this email and we can figure out what to do for dinner. I gotta check Jaz’s schedule and see when she’s gonna be home, I can’t remember.” 

Sadie nods and goes to get her Switch off the coffee table and sits back down across from Walt. 

It’s comfortable. It’s quiet. It’s easy. 

Sadie isn’t really paying attention, she’s just moving around slowly in circles. Walt’s computer shuts with a satisfying  _ tap _ . 

“What do you wanna get for dinner?” Walt asks.

Sadie locks her Switch immediately, looking up as well. “I don’t really care.” 

“That’s a lie.” 

Sadie gives an exaggerated frown and has half the mind to cross her arms but doesn’t. “Okay, you wanna get pizza? Breadsticks?” 

And she’s glad she didn’t give such a serious or annoyed response, because Walt just smiles. “Sounds good. What kind do you like?” 

“Cheese is cool. Are you a veggie pizza guy? You seem like it.”

Walt just gave a little chuckle. “Yeah, actually. No green peppers, and tomatoes only when they're in season.” 

Sadie looks at Walt in disbelief. “Walt, I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me. Do you think pineapple belongs on pizza?” 

Any fear that had built up on Walt’s face quickly dispersed. “I don’t really have a strong opinion on it. I wouldn’t go out of my way to order it, but I’d let someone do half pineapple and half something else. I’m not gonna knock what someone else likes. And anyways, I’m sure you’re into some weird food combos.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sadie says, pointedly trying to ignore the question. 

“You say that, but here’s the thing.” 

Sadie gives a hum to show she’s paying attention, eyebrows raised slightly. 

“I think you’re lying.” 

The hum breaks into a smile. “Do you really wanna know?” 

“As long as it’s not, like, anchovies or something.” 

“Oh, no, it’s not anchovies. I put chips in my salad.” 

“Like Doritos?” Walt asks, obviously trying to keep his face straight and judgement-free. 

Sadie laughs. “No, like  _ fries _ .” 

“Then why don’t you just say fries?” Walt asks, starting to smile. 

“Because I had the absolute  _ pleasure _ of being raised in London, and now it’s a col-” Sadie’s brain short circuits for a second, refusing to pronounce the word. “Collo-” 

“Colloquialism?” Walt supplies, looking far amused than he should be. 

“Yes!” Sadie says excitedly, “Yeah, that’s the word.” 

“You don’t have an accent,” Walt notes. 

“Nah, I mean, I  _ do _ but I don’t like to use it here. Not unless I’m trying to get free stuff.” Sadie looks up from where she’s been looking at her nails. She can see her reflection in the window, the sun has long since set. Walt’s looking at her with some expression she’s never seen before, it’s soft and patient, there are questions that linger under his skin, but they aren’t pressing. It’s almost like he doesn’t care in the best way. 

“Okay, well just remember that while we’re picking up the pizza,” Walt comments, shifting around to pull his phone out of his back pocket. “I’m just gonna get some breadsticks and cheese pizza, cause that’s all Jaz will eat. Sound good?” 

“Yeah, sounds good. Sorry I can’t be the veggie pizza eating girl of your dreams,” Sadie says. 

“I don’t know how I’ll survive.” Walt’s tone is easy and carefree as he scrolls through his contacts. Eventually he finds the one he was looking for and calls, placing their order. Sadie takes the time to stare at some of the prints hanging up on the wall. She thinks they’re from IKEA, but she’s not 100% sure. Her attention is brought back when Walt stands up. “It’s gonna be ready in ten minutes, you wanna go ahead and head over?”

Sadie takes the hand Walt has extended to her and stands up. “Sure thing. Where’d you order from?” 

“Tippizzia,” Walt says, only dropping Sadie’s hand after he responded and started walking over to the coat tree to pull on his shoes. 

“Oh!” Sadie’s face lights up in recognition. “I order from there all the time. Sometimes they give me discounts.” She comes over to pull on her boots next to Walt. 

“What? Then you should have placed the order!” Walt pulls on his jacket, frowning a little. 

Sadie just smiles and pulls on her jacket. Without much thought, she stands on her toes to reach up and pat Walt’s cheek. “I’ll go inside and pick it up, how about that?” Quick as her hand had gone up, Sadie removed it to pull her curls out from where they were under her collar. 

Walt blinked for a second, mouth slightly open before he smiled. “You can come in with me, if you want.” 

And, standing in the makeshift foyer, illuminated by an overhead light maintenance refuses to fix, the world seems so small and so big at the same time. Warm, deep and inviting, the feeling seeps out of Walt’s apartment and follows the two of them out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> five-oh-two is an angel number :")  
> anyways must a fic have actual plot? is it not enough for them to just sit around and hang out?  
> ok but real talk sorry this part is so short and kinda filler-y part fifteen is not >:)
> 
> find me on tumblr @ waltstone 
> 
> xoxo babes take care of urself drink water !!! leave a comment and a kudos and ill give u a forehead kiss


	15. part fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it’s tuesday, time to watch the bachelor & get some moscow mules

Jaz is asleep by the time the Bachelor is over, curled up under a soft, snowflake printed throw blanket on the poofy chair. An advertisement plays quietly on the TV. Walt and Sadie sit on opposite sides of the couch. There’s a lump that seems to hang in the air between them, a raincloud between them perhaps. 

Walt glances over at Sadie, resting his beer on his thigh. Sadie is already facing Walt, her knees up to her chest. She mirrors Walt, resting her beer on her knee. 

“Is it just me, or is the Bachelor really fucking depressing?” Sadie asks, frowning slightly. 

“Yeah,” Walt exhales. “Yeah, it hits a little different.” 

There’s a split second where Sadie doesn’t know what to say. There’s a little fear that bubbles up in her, one that she knows all too well. This is one of those moments, one of those moments where she feels like that stupid Frost poem about two roads. A pressure rests on whatever she chooses to say, the world feels like it doesn’t exist any further than the couch. 

“Do you wanna go for a walk?” Sadie asks. Perfect. Showstopping. Glamorous even.  _ Thank you brain, you’ve done it once again! Made a great decision on my part! _ Sadie thinks, already trying to figure out how to backpedal. But backpedal where? Standing in Carter’s kitchen? Or two years ago at a Dead Weather concert? 

Walt seems to think it over for a second. “It’s cold out.” 

Sadie blinks at him. “We’re both from cold places.” 

Walt grins and shakes his head, as if talking himself out of saying something, before he takes a drink of his beer, sets it, half finished on the coffee table next to the empty pizza box. “Yeah, bet. Let’s do it.” He offers her a hand. “We can clean up later.” 

A quick, mere blip of a thought passes through Sadie’s brain as she takes Walt’s hand to stand up.  _ Dad would like him. _ It’s gone as quickly as it comes, and Sadie’s had just enough to drink to not even notice it. 

The two of them turn off the TV, leaving Jaz to sleep. They bundle up and head out. As Walt locks his apartment door behind him, he says. “Jaz is gonna think you murdered me.” 

“Please,” Sadie says. “Why would I do that?” 

“Revenge?” 

“Mhm, no. I have no reason to be mad at you.” 

The elevator is summoned, and the two of them are quiet. They stare at the metal doors, catching glossy, silver-soaked reflections of the other. A little ding signifies the arrival of the elevator, and it’s the same, quiet, silent-staring ride back down. Sadie takes a second to fix her hair, which is caught in a weird poof between her scarf and her beanie. 

“So,” Walt says as they exit the apartment complex. “Where do you wanna walk to?”

“I hadn’t planned this far, if I’m being honest. You looked a little down in the dumps so, I figured, I mean, I don’t know what-” 

“Sadie,” Walt cuts her off, casting a sideways glance. “You’re good. I get it.” 

They walk in silence for a little longer before Sadie pulls out her phone to check the time. “It’s only a bit after eight. What are you doing tomorrow?” 

“I have some orders I have to send out. I have to work on this product design. Why?” 

Sadie stops walking. “Let’s go get drinks.” 

Walt blinks at Sadie. “What?” 

“Let’s go get drinks. I’ll pay. You're a cancer right?”

“Yeah ...” Walt’s apprehension is clear as day, and he glances Sadie up and down. “Why?” 

“Well, I’m a pisces, and first of all, we are incredibly compatible, Liz looked it up-” 

“Who’s Liz?”

“My friend. And since we’re both water signs, I know we both enjoy crying and have a lot of emotions. And so I think it would be therapeutic. So, drinks?” There’s a pause. “We can get moscow mules.” 

“You’re going to be the death of me,” Walt says, a little in disbelief. He blinks, as if to reset his brain to adjust to these new plans. “Lead the way.” 

They end up seated in a low, back booth of some modernly-furnished bar, each of them with their own drink, green moscow mules in tall, glass cups. They each have two straws in them, which Sadie finds a little interesting. Their coats and scarves and hats are in the booth next to them, against the wall. 

“So, who’s Liz?” Walt asks. 

Sadie takes a sip of her drink before responding. “One of my best friends. We met when we were kids.” 

“Do I get to unlock your backstory?” Walt asks, eyebrows raised, moving a mint leaf around with his straw before taking a sip. 

“I suppose. Do I get some of yours?” 

Walt nods, furrowing his brow just a little. “Of course.” 

“Cool. Uh, so Liz is one of my really good friends. Way back. Her and Emma. I met them on my first day of school, which the year was about halfway through mind you, and I haven't been able to get rid of them since. Um, yeah. She’s cool. Hang on, I can show you a picture.” 

Sadie roots around in her jacket pocket to find her phone and opens up her instagram, searching through her tagged photos and finding a group of ones that Emma had posted for Sadie’s birthday last year. Sadie hands the phone to Walt, who looks at the picture and laughs. 

It’s the three of them, eighteen and finally free of school. They’re dressed in their school uniforms in the school courtyard. Liz is on Sadie’s back, yelling about something and holding Sadie’s blazer. Emma is looking at Liz like she hung the moon, a soft smile on her face. 

The next one is a blurry, low quality video of Emma piercing Sadie’s ear in a bathroom with a needle and an apple. Sadie lets out a string of profanities she’s probably not supposed to know. 

“You got on me just the other day about piercing my own ears, but here you are,” Walt says, fondness in his voice as he watches the video, then swipes to the next photo, which is a sweet little picture of Sadie, maybe eight, shlumped over and sleeping on the train, her head on Liz’s shoulder. 

“Mhm,” Sadie hums, “Well, that’s them. Liz has the red hair. Emma is the other one.” 

Walt hands Sadie’s phone back to her. “So, how long has Emma been in love with Liz?” 

Sadie laughs, “A  _ long _ time. Like, a super long time. You know, some people just ... I dunno they luck out. With finding their soulmate or whatever.” 

“Do you believe in soulmates?” 

“No, I’m not stupid. I  _ want _ to, it’s appealing, but ...” Sadie trails off and swallows a lump in her through, playing with the condensation on her glass with her nail. “Nah. Not anymore.” 

There’s a silence that falls between them. There’s a rugby match on the TV, but no one but the bartender seems interested in it. 

“Do you believe in soulmates?” Sadie asks, breaking the silence and looking over at Walt. 

Walt hums. “I like to think so. It gives me something to look forward to, I guess.” 

Sadie nods. “That’s fair. How do you and Jaz know each other?” 

“We went to college together. Go Tigers. We had a philosophy class together that we dropped after like two days, and then ended up in the same pottery class our freshman year. So we figured it was fate or whatever. And, anyways, she was in the sorority of my freshman year roommate’s girlfriend. I saw her a lot and ... We’ve been roommates since our sophomore year when we could move off campus.” 

Sadie gets a feeling there’s a lot more to the story that she is not yet allowed to be privy too. Honestly, she surprises herself by not pushing the matter. 

“That’s cool. I don’t understand anything about sororities, but that’s cool. What did you go to school for?” 

Walt smiles. “Graphic design.” 

“Is it your passion?” 

Sadie will reference as many shitty memes as it takes to make Walt laugh the same way he does hearing that. “No,” He says. “Not at all. I hate computers. The ‘creating’ is different, I like it when I can touch what I’m doing. Otherwise it’s just me and Photoshop being at ends with each other in the middle of the night again.” 

“You should just not do it.” 

“Just not do it?” 

“Yeah. What’s making you have to do it?” 

“Uh, I dunno,” Walt says, and puts on a dramatic thinking face. “My electricity bill, for starters. My unhealthy addiction to getting tattoos, and the fact that I picked the most expensive hobby in the world.” 

Sadie hums, “Yeah, you make jewelry, right? Dope shit.” 

Walt chuckles. “Yeah. Dope shit.” 

Sadie moves her straws around, causing the ice to clink to each other. There’s a weight that still hangs around them, so Sadie lightly kicks Walt’s shin under the table. He gives a little jolt and his eyes snap up out of his slight daze. 

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” Sadie prompts, desperate to fill the silence between them. 

If anything, the way Walt rocks his head back and forth a little bit makes Sadie’s nerves start to bubble and swish around her chest. “Are we hanging out in a revenge way or as friends now?” 

Sadie blinks. “What? Are you asking if we’re friends?” 

Walt groans. “When you put it like that it sounds lame! But yeah, in a way. I just-” 

“No! No, I never like, I wasn’t like, I was like, I always saw you as a- You weren’t ever just there for  _ revenge _ . Like, yeah, I wanted the  _ help _ but I wasn’t like, going to get revenge on  _ him _ and then just, you know, leave. I’m not like that.” The words all but flew out of Sadie’s mouth, apologizing for nothing without saying anything. 

There’s a brief silence, as Walt tries to process what Sadie just said, and Sadie tries to process whatever just tumbled out of her mouth. 

“It’s nice having you around, like, that’s what I’m trying to say. Like, no one else is going to  _ get _ it to the same way and I mean,” Sadie takes a deep breath, and Walt uses that brief pause as his in. 

“Sadie, I get it,” Walt says, “You don’t have to go explaining it or anything. It’s a weird situation and everything.” 

“Do you ...” Sadie trails off, “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Talk about it?” Walt asks. He tilts his head a little bit to the side, and the dim lighting glints off one of his earrings, highlighting on his brow bone. They’re nice, there’s a little scar in his left one, nothing more than a dot, and Sadie wonders briefly if Walt befriends Carter if her brother will finally start taking care of his eyebrows too. 

“Like, uh, like about  _ him _ or whatever,” Sadie says, a frown slowly starting to build on her face. 

Walt lets out a little huff of laughter and shakes his head. “You can’t even talk about it! I don’t think either of us could string together a coherent thought about the situation! Next week we’re going to go on Facebook-” 

“Who the  _ fuck _ still uses Facebook?” 

It seems like Walt has spent enough time around Sadie because he doesn’t even respond to that. “-And see that he’s got some secret family he kept from  _ both _ of us!” 

Without a second thought, Sadie places her hand on Walt’s forearm and looks him dead in the eyes. “Don’t speak things into existence like that. I-” Sadie swallows and bits her bottom lip for a second before removing her hand. It tingles. “Yeah. Whatever.” Sadie places both her hands around her glass and takes a few sips of drink so she doesn’t have to finish that thought. 

The corners of Walt’s mouth twitched a bit, as if trying to figure out the best way to go from this. 

“Not doing good?” He asks softly. 

Sadie squeezes her eyes shut and places her fingers under her lashes, pressing slightly as if she could keep the tears inside. Her mascara wasn’t waterproof, her concealer cost too much to let it be ruined. She shakes her head, and lets out a little, “How am I supposed to be good right now?” 

“You don’t have to be good,” Walt says. His voice is so soft, it reminds Sadie of honey gold makeup primer, of the soft insides of freshly-baked cookies. 

“You’re gonna make me cry,” Sadie whispers, her voice breaking. “I come here too much to cry.” 

Walt places his hand on the table, face up. His rings make a soft dinging sound when they hit the hardwood. Sadie glances at his hand before back at him. 

“If I move my fingers I’m going to start crying.” 

“And? Have you cried about this yet?” 

Sadie nods. 

“Then what’s wrong with doing it again?” 

“Fuck,” Sadie breathes, swallowing and sliding her left hand into Walt’s right, “You fucking cancer, what’s your Venus?” 

“Actually, I have a cancer stellium,” Walt replies, easy and simple, squeezing Sadie’s hand in his. The touch doesn’t help at all, the reassuring squeeze makes the tears welling up in Sadie’s eyes feel like they’re about to pour out. Tsunamis or cyclones, the wrath of sea gods sit behind her eyes, ready for one more drop of kindness to just surge out. 

In preparation, Sadie reaches over their hands with her right to grab a napkin. “A cancer stellium, huh?”

“Yeah. Sun, moon, venus, mars.” Walt has the easiest smile on his face. “My mom is super into it all. I think she was looking for answers after dad died or something. I don’t know if she believes in it, but I think it’s comforting to her, you know?” 

And shit, Sadie would have cheated on herself too if Walt was the other option. 

“Yeah,” Sadie breathes, shaky and looking at their hands, at the table, at the napkin in her hands. When did one of the diamonds fall off of her nails? Just anywhere but Walt’s face because she  _ refuses _ to cry in a booth with a boy over a boy. 

But Walt squeezes her hand again and it’s all over, Sadie swallows the last of her pride and looks at Walt in the eyes. They’re the same color as the old book of poetry her mom used to have, that Sadie used to beg and beg for her to read out of, even though Sadie didn’t understand a single word, but there was nothing else to focus on but the rhythm and the beat of the words. 

And Sadie feels six again, lost and confused and unable to understand anything. Everything feels like poetry, like it makes sense in theory but there’s no olaplex, there’s no color theory. It feels like, though, it makes sense to Walt. 

Sadie squeezes his hand back, everything seems hazy from the dim, yellow lighting of the bar. Classic rock plays over the speakers, people are loudly talking in the background, there’s a pool game happening, but Sadie doesn’t care. She’s heartbroken, she’s exhausted, Walt’s hand feels smooth and rough in her own, and something about the situation makes Sadie comfortable enough to let a tear fall. 

“Aw shit,” Sadie whispers, shaking her head and reaching into her bag with her freehand to pull out a little pack of tissues, which just makes Walt laugh. Sadie scowls. “It’s important to be prepared.” She uses it to keep any more of her makeup from smearing. 

“I’m not making fun of you,” Walt promises, giving Sadie a soft smile. “It’s nothing bad.” 

Sadie sniffles a little, rolling her eyes to try and gain her composure back. “How are  _ you _ doing good?” She asks softly. 

“I’m not, but it’s okay,” Walt says, and Sadie almost believes him. And for once, she’s quiet, because she remembers at some point being told people talk when there’s silence. “He was just there for some really awful things. Uh.” Walt swallows. He shifts around in his seat a little bit. “Which we don’t have to get into tonight, that’s for later, if you even want to-”

“Yeah, of course,” Sadie whispers, still catching tears with her tissue. “Yeah, of course.” 

Walt gives her a nervous little smile, and Sadie’s brain is already doing somersaults to try and figure out what it is, whatever it is Walt is hiding. 

“I was really hoping that your text was just to the wrong number,” Walt decided on. “But, I’ve been talking about it with my mom and I think it’s for the better. Fresh start, you know?”

“Yeah,” Sadie says, trying to ignore that little pang of jealousy in her stomach. Gran gave awful advice, and none of her advice Sadie wanted anyways. And it wasn’t like Sadie could just go marching up to Dad or Carter and ask for advice. Both of them were painfully desperate to keep a neutral ground. Well, Dad more so than Carter. “I’m, like, really bad at listening, but I’ll try for you if you ever want to talk about whatever it is. I won’t press though, it might be in bad taste if more than one of us is crying.” 

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Walt says, and squeezes Sadie’s hand before slowly letting go, sliding his hand out from under hers. 

Sadie pulls her hand back too, wrapping it around her glass again. She tracks her finger through the condensation on the side, her stomach going into knots. 

“Shit, it’s just,” Sadie takes a deep breath. Walt raises his eyebrows to show he’s listening. “My entire life just turned upside down. I just, I had my whole life set up around this one thing being a constant, and now it’s just- It’s just not.” Sadie’s voice cracks as she speaks, and her accent touches the tail ends of her words.  _ How embarrassing _ , Sadie thinks to herself. “Ugh, it’s just  _ so shitty _ , because I just sit around and I do nothing but think. I just stare at walls and think about what I could have done better, what I did  _ wrong _ . And, like, I can come up with a whole, with a whole bundle of answers, you know? And then, I try really, really hard to not blame myself, right? But it’s so  _ easy _ , right? To just blame yourself.” 

“I think you might be the only one,” Walt says, straightening up, “Most people would rather just point blame at anyone else. Anything else but themselves.” 

“Well, what do you blame, then?” 

“Myself.” 

“ _ Yourself _ ? Weren’t you just preaching--” 

Walt smiles a little, raising his hands, palms towards Sadie, “I never said I take my own advice. I know what I should do, doesn’t mean I do it.” 

Sadie huffs a little and plays with her straws. “Then where’s the motivation for me to take your advice?” 

“I dunno, that’s for you to decide. Anyways, all advice is just recycled nostalgia. Like, I regret the fact that I blame myself, so of course my advice is going to be that you shouldn’t blame yourself.” 

Sadie hums, raising an eyebrow. “That was deep.” 

“Didn’t mean for it to be.” 

They’re quiet for a few moments. 

“I feel like I’ve wasted two years of my life.” 

Walt furrows his brow, thrown off and puzzled by the statement. “Wait, if you’re--” 

“We can talk about literally anything else,” Sadie says quickly, blinking a few times. “Like, anything else.” 

“Got it,” Walt looks around for a second before back to Sadie, “Jaz made me come up with a list of all the things I couldn’t do because Anubis didn’t want me doing it or whatever.” 

“That’s fucked, there were things you couldn’t do because of him?” Sadie asks, her curiosity stemming mainly from the fact that it appeared Walt and Anubis were never  _ serious _ . But she also felt like she was standing at the tip of an iceberg. Walt opens his mouth to speak, but Sadie cuts him off before he can even start, “Makes sense though. He’s got a little bit of a god complex, if you ask me. Think that name of his went to his head?” 

“I’m sure it did, just a little,” Walt responds, lighthearted before he glances and asks, “Is he, uh, still calling you?” 

“Yeah,” Sadie mumbles. 

“Can I see your phone?” Walt asks, then tacks on, “Please?” 

“You’re just going to block him or something,” Sadie says, pushing her phone over towards the wall, poorly hiding it behind the napkin dispenser. “Do you even have him blocked?” 

“On everything but venmo,” Walt says. 

Sadie glances up at Walt in interest. 

“Jaz did it for me, there was no way I would have done it on my own,” Walt says. “But, it’s definitely nice. Easier to forget about someone when they can’t call you at odd hours of the day.” 

“He only calls now after noon and before five,” Sadie mumbles, but slowly slides her phone over to Walt. “I just don’t want him showing up at my place unannounced.” 

Once her phone is halfway across the table, Walt picks it up and looks at Sadie expectantly. 

“Zero zero zero zero,” Sadie says, “For the password.” 

Walt raises his eyebrows briefly at that, then unlocks Sadie’s phone and holds it up in front of his face to block Anubis from her phone calls, over twitter and instagram. Sadie draws circles with the condensation on the table from their drinks. 

“So you really think Anubis is going to show up randomly?” Walt asks, handing Sadie back her phone. 

“I dunno, it feels like something he would do. He’s a little ...” Sadie frowns, and takes a sip of her drink. 

“Possessive?” Walt asks. 

“That’s a word for it,” Sadie mumbles. She takes a deep breath. “I’m so glad you’re cool, because otherwise I don’t really know who else I would have to go to about this. I mean, I didn’t realize how ... How,” Sadie puts her hands to her face in a way to mimic horse blinders, “I was until I didn’t have anyone else to hang out with except for my cat. And Carter, of course, but he’s my brother, which is kinda lame. Liz and Em keep telling me that they always have a couch, but, I think they keep forgetting about the entire ocean between us. And I don’t want to have to do the walk of shame back to my old friend group from before I got together with  _ him _ . But, yeah. Maybe I’m just hoping that Anubis will show up randomly. Actually, that’s definitely what I’m doing.” 

“Sounds very healthy,” Walt comments, to which Sadie groans. “If you want, you can spend the night.” 

“And sleep where?” 

“The couch pulls out.” 

Sadie chews on the inside of her cheeks a little bit, thinking it over. It was a little tempting, to not have to go home in the cold. 

“Look, all I’m saying is it’s important not to be alone after a breakup. And if you want to crash at my place tonight, I’m sure Jaz wouldn’t have a problem with it. But, I also get if you want to get home. I can drive you if we get some food on the way back.” Walt offers. 

“Let's do the latter, I need to recover from the embarrassment of crying,” Sadie says, slightly dabbing her bottom lash line. “But thanks for the offer. And thanks for listening or whatever.” 

“It’s no problem,” Walt says, collecting his jacket. 

“I’d do the same. If you ever wanted to talk,” Sadie says, trying to act nonchalant as she stood and pulled her jacket on. 

Sadie must have failed miserably, because all Walt says is, “I know.” It’s almost too sincere for the loud pool game happening in the background, the yellowish bar lighting, and how raw Sadie’s emotions felt, spilt out in front of her. 

(When she gets home, she throws away the bouquet on her doorstep except for one, which she puts in her nightstand and tries to not think about.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ty for reading angels !! don't forget to hit that kudos button and (or) leave a comment! i love knowing what yall thought (and even if ur looking forward 2 anything)! stay hydrated stay sane i love yall


	16. part sixteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dude we hangin out

Two mugs of chamomile tea rest on Sadie’s coffee table atop an old tabloid magazine. From the few coffee rings, it’s not the first time the old magazine has been used as a coaster. Next to the mugs is a mostly eaten charcuterie board, as well as a holiday scented candle that was filling the room with something so, so close to pumpkin. 

“You got any ... Threes?” Walt asks, looking up from his cards. He’s dressed in a hoodie and track pants, leaning up against the armrest. In one hand, he holds his cards, and in the other, holds a lit joint he takes a hit of. 

Sadie grumbles, finding her three threes and handing the last of her cards over. “Fuck you.” She mirrors him, leaning against the armrest and also in house clothes: a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants with her hair braided back. She has her legs stretched out and next to Walt, covered up by a blanket. Walt had spent the night last night, after a trivia night went too long and the two of them stumbled back to Sadie’s, barely making it into pajamas before collapsing into bed.

Walt laughs in delight, taking the cards with the same hand he’s holding the joint with, letting Sadie take it from him. 

“I assume that’s a fair trade,” Walt says, taking note of the satisfied look on Sadie’s face. 

“It is,” Sadie says on her exhale. “I can’t believe you beat me. You want to play again?” 

“This is your second game, Sades.” 

Sadie sucks on her teeth in mild annoyance. “Ugh. Fine.” Her head leans back, onto the armrest, and she stares up at the ceiling. She takes a slow, long drag of the joint, watching as the smoke swirls up into the room before dissipating. “Do you have plans for the holidays?” 

Walt shrugs. “Not really. Jaz celebrates Hanukkah, and she always goes home.” 

“You don’t make the drive home to visit your mum?” Sadie asks, examining her nails. 

“I’m on the completely wrong coast.” 

“Yeah, speaking of,” Sadie sits up, coughs through a drag, and hands the joint to Walt. “How the hell did you end up  _ here _ ?” The slushy outskirts of DC was not something that Sadie found very enjoyable, nor very appealing. The idea that anyone would willingly move there was a foreign concept to her. 

Walt takes the joint and hands Sadie her mug of tea, which she gladly accepts. “You left London for this.” 

“London is also a shithole,” Sadie says into her mug, letting the calming drink soothe her throat. “I have better access to my guilt money here anyways. So. What are you doing here?” 

“I got a full ride to George Washington,” Walt says. 

Sadie pauses. 

Walt relights the joint, rotating it slowly in his fingers as the flames touch it, careful to make sure it burns evenly.

“Well? I’m not from here. The fuck does that mean?” 

Walt coughs on pull, laughter trying to fight through. “Sorry! Sorry!  _ Fuck _ , it means I’m smart.” 

Sadie can’t help the laugh that bubbles up in her chest. 

“Well, you aren’t humble, are you!” 

“I normally am!” 

“You can’t blame this on you being high!” 

“Yes I can, I’m doing it right now!” 

Laughter encases the room, Sadie leans forward, doubled over. Sadie intercepts Walt’s arm, grabbing his wrist before he can put the joint out and set it on the ashtray. His gold bracelet is cold under Sadie’s hand, and she plucks the joint out of his fingers, holding it between her lips while she furrows her brow and examines the metal. 

“Did you make this?” 

“No, it was a gift from my mom.” 

“It’s pretty.” Sadie releases his wrist and sits back on the couch, closing her eyes. “How high are you?” 

Walt is quiet for a moment, shifting around slightly and pulling a throw blanket over his lap. “Pretty blazed, honestly.” He pointed over to Sadie’s wall, where there was a dart board up against an old pizza box that was riddled with little holes. “That yours?” 

“No,” Sadie says immediately, then cracks open eye to see where Walt was pointing, “Oh. The darts are somewhere in the kitchen, I think. Or they’re buried in that stack of mail over there.” Sadie festered around, landing her finger in the direction of the stack of mail on the coffee table.

Walt leans forwards and looks around for them, eventually finding all six, only one of them was missing the end bit. He held it up, “You’re missing the fly-ing bit.” 

“Oh, shit, I was using it as a bookmark,” Sadie says. 

Walt nods, accepting the answer. “Do you want to order food?” 

There’s a breathy chuckle from Walt. Sadie keeps her eyes closed, her eyelids are so heavy anyways right now, dragging down to the ground. 

“You wanna order pizza?” 

“Fuck yes,” Sadie says, and pulls herself up off the couch, heading over to the record player. She doesn’t know how long the record has been waiting to be flipped. Solange, who always seems to float over to the player when Walt is over. Sadie’s about to place the needle back on the record when Walt interrupts her. 

“Can you actually play the drums or are you just one of those girls who says she can?” 

Sadie pauses and looks over her shoulder at Walt. “Excuse me?” 

To her surprise, Walt smiles. He looks so gentle, bathed in lamplight and hazed through smoke. His elbow rests on the back of her couch, his cheek on his knuckles. “You heard me.” 

“Yeah, I can,” Sadie huffs, putting the record back in its sleeve and searching for a different one. Maybe some Amy Winehouse, maybe if Sadie could find her Internet record, that would be nice... 

“Will you show me?” 

“As long as you order pizza first,” Sadie says, “And we get extra cheese.” 

“Do you want mozzarella or something else?” Walt asks. “Blue cheese, maybe?” 

“Please, I wouldn’t get blue cheese with company over, I  _ do _ have manners.” 

“So if I wasn’t here--” 

Sadie turns and looks at Walt with her eyebrows raised. “Are you going to sit around here and judge me for having manners and functioning taste buds or are you going to order pizza?” 

Walt raises his hands in defeat, a smile on his face as he calls the pizza place to put in the order. Music starts back up again, and Sadie plops down on the couch next to Walt, close enough to hear the person taking their order on the other side of the call. His arm rests across the back of the couch as he talks, and Sadie wonders if her heart has always beat this fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the author does not condone any of the food combinations mentioned in this chapter
> 
> ty for reading biggest kisses :")

**Author's Note:**

> don't forget to drop a kudos and a comment if you liked it !! they fuel me :") 
> 
> find me on tumblr @ cowbabv


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